


Malachai's Revenge

by ifwallscouldspeak



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Bonnie Bennett Saves the Day (As Per Usual), Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Halloween, Halloweentown AU, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 11:59:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 38,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12409911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifwallscouldspeak/pseuds/ifwallscouldspeak
Summary: Bonnie turns to ask Grams if this is all some kind of  prank, when her eyes catch on the town jack-o-lantern; rather, what used to be the town jack-o-lantern. Instead of a deviously carved face grinning at her, there’s nothing but a solid gray cube. Grams is already staring at it, lips parted and eyes hard. Bonnie’s heart starts racing, and a peculiar feeling drags over her. Like when she’s walked right into a cobweb, unawares, and now has sticky residue all over her clothes and skin.Bonnie bites her lips. “Grams? What’s… is this some kind of joke?”“This is no joke,” Grams says. “As goes the jack-o-lantern, so goes Halloweentown.”(Or, the Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge AU that no one asked for, where Bonnie Bennett discovers some dark secrets about Halloweentown, her family, and their history with Malachai Parker.)





	Malachai's Revenge

**Author's Note:**

> So... this happened because when I was marathoning the Halloweentown movies (as one does in October) I could not stop thinking about how much Marnie/Cal reminded me of Bonnie/Kai. And I was like, "oh, this would be a cute AU to write, I wonder if someone has done that" and then I spiraled and took it upon myself to do that (: Anyway I love Bonnie so much, especially with how morally gray she is and really wanted to take that and complicate the Good Vs. Evil narrative of Halloweentown.  
>  
> 
> I actually haven't watched TVD after S6 so all of the things/characters I brought in from canon are from S1-5. And I know this is an AU and fanfic which gives me creative liberties, but apologies if major things from the show don't align with this. 
> 
>  
> 
>    
> All grammar, spelling and syntax errors are my own. I do not own The Vampire Diaries or the Halloweentown franchise. Some lines of dialogue are verbatim from Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. 
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy! :)

_A year ago - before I even knew I was a witch - was the last time I was in Halloweentown._

_My grandmother, Shelia, my cousin, Lucy, and I all joined together to use the power of the Bennett witches to defeat Joshua Parker, an evil warlock who’s been obsessed with my family’s magic for ages. With the help of some of my supernatural best friends, we were able to ensure that Joshua would never have Halloweentown in his clutches._

_Halloweentown was always a happy place where creatures of different sizes and shapes and species - some of them downright weird - could live apart from the mortal world in peace and harmony.  And after we saved Halloweentown, Grams decided to leave her comfy home there and live with our family in Mystic Falls._

_Now, it’s Halloween night again; the only night we can pass freely between Halloweentown and our world. I’m always thinking about Halloweentown, and wondering how it’s changed. Grams say things are always changing in Halloweentown._

_I know that nothing’s changed at our house. As usual, Dad and Grams are fighting again._

 

+++

 

Bonnie stares in the mirror, trying to adjust the wide brim on her hat. It’s a little on the nose to dress up as a witch on Halloween, but she can’t imagine even trying to be anything else, especially since she knows so many other creatures first hand. It’s kinda eerie, dressing up as a fairy once she’s seen one buying moss-flavored toothpaste.

Bonnie smiles at her reflection, thinking about Halloweentown. Again.

Her phone goes off on her desk, and she turns from the mirror with a sigh. The hat’s gonna look as good as it’s gonna get.

_We just got to your house, where are you?_

It’s a message from Caroline, a bunch of pumpkin, ghost, and candy emojis trailing after the text. Her phone dings again; it’s a Snap of one of the ridiculously dressed fake skeleton decorations Grams had put up earlier. This one has a on a baseball cap and an _East Side Vampire Bats_ jersey. Bonnie smiles; they had won the Halloweentown World Series this year.

 _I’m coming right down,_ she sends back.

The party is in full swing by the time Bonnie trips down her stairs. She can barely breathe for a moment; it feels like everyone in the school district has decided to attend the mayor’s annual Halloween bash before the dance at the Mystic Falls High. Bonnie waves hello to a few people and nods at others, worming her body around until she finds Caroline and Elena.

“Nice costumes,” Bonnie snorts, shaking her head at them.

Elena is dressed as a sexy nurse, complete with red lips and fishnet tights; Caroline is a witch, with a purple corset and floppy-brimmed, overly ribboned hat. The hat reminds Bonnie more of the old women she’d seen at her father’s church then any witch’s hat she’s ever seen.

“Cute,” Bonnie says.

Caroline frowns. “You’re not dressed up!”

“Don’t listen to her.” Elena smiles. “You look beautiful, Bonnie.”

“I didn’t say she didn’t look beautiful, I said she wasn’t dressed up,” Caroline says.

Bonnie rolls her eyes. “Should I have gotten some plastic teeth and blood capsules and pretended to be you, instead?”

Caroline winks. “Don’t you know imitation is the highest form of flattery?”

“Haha,” Bonnie says dryly.

“You okay?” Elena peers at her.

Caroline passes Bonnie a drink, and she takes a big gulp, almost choking for a moment. The taste of 151 is overpowering. Bonnie isn’t even sure there is any coke in this rum and coke.

“Fine,” she says, after she sputters a bit. “Just Grams and Dad. You know.”

Caroline frown. “Fighting again?”

“You know how Dad is around Halloween,” Bonnie sighs. “Especially now that Grams is in my life...”

Her best friends nod sympathetically.

They have all known each other since they were kids, bonded through their obsessions with the macabre and the mysterious. And that bond only strengthened over the past few years, as Caroline was turned, Elena discovered she was a doppelgänger, and Bonnie began to hone her magic. But through it all, there was the shadow of her father’s disappointment and loathing for what Bonnie was becoming.

“Anyway, let’s not talk about that right now,” Caroline reaches over, squeezing Bonnie’s hand. “It’s Halloween! It’s our night!”

Bonnie smiles crookedly. “Cheers.”

They all bump their red solo cups together, and Bonnie takes a smaller, slower sip. She glances around the room and smiles as she spots her grandmother. Her magic bag is on a table decorated in cobwebs and tiny pumpkins; screaming children surrounds her.

“Be right back,” Bonnie tells her girls, before wandering over.

Grams looks right in her element, dressed in her ceremonial robes, her hair piled high on the top of her head.

“Don’t worry kids, we have hats for everybody!” Grams says cheerfully. “No need to fight!”

“I want a pink one!” a little boy dressed as a cowboy pouts.

Grams winks, and begins rooting around in her bag. “Then a pink one you shall have!”

She pulls out the most ridiculous looking hat Bonnie has ever seen, and hands it over to the child. Before she can step forward, a rush of children push Bonnie out of the way, all wanting to make requests for their own costumes.

“No need to fight, witches don’t fight!” Grams says.

She glances up, and winks at Bonnie.

Bonnie grins and clears her throat. “That’s right. And if you’re gonna be real witches and warlocks, you’ll need brooms too, right?”

“Brilliant idea, Bonnie,” Grams says.

The kids begin to squeal as Grams starts pulling broomsticks out of the bag. Bonnie grabs a few and begins to pass them out to the kids, clearly overwhelmed and delighted.

Grams starts to say, “Maybe you can even take some of our little partygoers for a spin around the house-”

Bonnie laughs. “Grams, that’s not a very good idea.”

“And why not?” Gram raises an eyebrow. “I can’t let your father spoil my fun every day of the year-”

“Shelia.”

Bonnie twists to see her father’s disapproving face, eyes glued to a little girl thrusting one of the brooms in the air victoriously. She sighs, and wipes her sweaty palms on her robes.

Grams’s face curls into a faux-innocent look. “Oh, hello, Rudy.”

“You know,” Dad starts, “I spend all of my time trying to keep you from turning my own daughter against me. Now you’re gonna corrupt all of the children in the neighborhood-”

Bonnie steps up, moving herself slightly between her father and grandmother. “Dad, I’m not turning against you-”

Grams places a gently hand on Bonnie’s shoulder. “Rudy, if you wanted to ignore Abby’s heritage when you got married, well, that was your business. But someone will have to take my place as head of the Bennett line, and Bonnie is just the stuff!”

Bonnie beams at her grandmother. “Awh, Grams-”

“We’re not arguing about this now,” Dad says, smiling tightly.

The smile slides off of Bonnie’s face. “Dad-”

Her father steps around her, gently taking broomsticks out of kids’ hands. Bonnie watches, frowning, as her grandmother seems to deflate right in front of her.

“All right, dress-up’s over,” Dad says. “Look, we’ve got bobbing for apples right over there!”

A few kids start groaning, but Dad stands his ground. He spots the little cowboy and reaches over, yanking the pink witch’s hat right off of his head, and stuffing it back into Grams’s bag.

“That really was not necessary-” Grams starts to say.

“Yes, yes, bobbing for apples,” Dad clears his throat loudly. “It’s fun, it’s fun, I promise. Go play!”

Grams stands stiffly for a moment, before raising her head. She walks off regally, easily maneuvering around the neighbors. Bonnie watches her go, catching Caroline’s eye as she does. Both of her friends are looking back at Bonnie with slight grimaces on their faces, like they already know what happened without having to be near them. Bonnie sighs; damn vampire hearing. She turns back to her father, who’s snapping Grams’s bag shut.

“I hope you're happy,” she bites, before marching after her grandmother.

Dad calls after her, “Oh, ecstatic.”

 

+++

 

Bonnie finds Grams where she always does after a fight with her father: in her room, staring at her crystal ball. She sighs, and gently closes Grams’s door closed. Bonnie snaps her fingers, making sure that the medieval-looking door will be invisible to any partygoers stumbling around to find a restroom. It’s one of her father’s many rules; no one is supposed to know about her grandmother’s room except for family, including Elena and Caroline.

She moves to stand behind her grandmother, leaning against her arm gently. Grams’s hands are folded on the tabletop, and her head is bent slightly. Bonnie can see that even though she has a smile on her face, her eyes shine with longing.

“Who’re we watching today?” Bonnie asks.

Grams waves a hand. “Just those Salvatore brothers again.”

Bonnie peers at the crystal ball. The two vampires, Stefan and Damon, are standing outside of their boarding house. Stefan has some kind of parchment in his hand; Damon is twirling a glass, probably filled with bourbon and blood.

“Come on, Damon,” Stefan sounds exasperated. “It’s for a good cause.”

“When have I ever wanted to do anything for a good cause?” Damon snorts.

“The high school really needs the donations-”

“Forget it, little brother,” Damon says. “I don’t give to charity.”

“I don’t see why not, we have enough junk in this house to donate ten times over-” Stefan says.

Grams chuckles. “Ah, Stefan. When he’s not in Ripper mode, he’s ever the optimist.”

Bonnie smiles slightly. “And there’s Damon, the drunk sock stealer.”

“Oh, he doesn’t steal them,” Grams corrects. “He’s more of… a junk magnet. For some reason, everything that gets lost in the universe - that other sock, the last piece of that Grecian statue, the Crown Jewels you put down for just a second... They all end up in the Salvatore’s back yard. Stefan would be more than happy to part with it all, but Damon… that haggler, he’ll only do so for a price.”

The door jiggles slightly, and Bonnie glances over her shoulder. Caroline walks in, a bright smile on her face.

“Hey Shelia,” Caroline says.

Grams lights up at Caroline’s costume. “How wonderful you look, darling! Just like a Bennett!”

Caroline beams, and Bonnie rolls her eyes. Her gaze lands back on the crystal ball, watching as Stefan continues to wave the parchment as his brother. Bonnie’s heart wrenches slightly. She feels guilty that Grams is in Mystic Falls, trying to train her, instead of being at home where she belongs. 

“Oh, the Salvatores,” Caroline says.

Grams smiles. “You know, I was the one who blessed their family rings, so that they could walk around in open daylight-”

“Oh, just like Bonnie did for mine?” Caroline smiles. “That’s so amazing-”

“Grams,” Bonnie interrupts. “Why don’t you go back to Halloweentown tonight, while the portal’s open? I know you miss all your friends…”

Bonnie trails off as Grams chuckles. It’s a melancholy sound, not at all like the laughter Bonnie usually hears around the house.

Grams says, “After a year away, going back for just a few hours… is harder than not going back at all.”

Bonnie doesn’t know how to respond.

“I’m so sorry, Sheila,” Carolina says softly. “It must really suck.”

Grams reaches to pat Caroline’s hand. “It does, dear. But! I’ll just wait until next Halloween, and then I can take Bonnie for the year. Eighteen is a very important age for a witch!”

“I can’t wait, Grams,” Bonnie says, plastering a smile on her face. “Even if a year in Halloweentown is gonna feel like a hundred.”

“Now you’ll know what it’s like to be immortal, too,” Caroline jokes.

“And what about you, dear?” Grams asks. “Are you planning to spend your entire life in the mortal realm?”

Caroline bites her lip. “Not… exactly. I don’t know. My mom wants me to stay at least to go to college here. As she’s always reminding me, I have lifetimes to decide where I want to live.”

“That is true, that is true,” Grams says. “But you can’t live in both worlds. Everyone has to make a choice.”

It’s a reminder for Bonnie too, and it makes her heart squeeze. As much as she loves and misses Halloweentown, she always feels guilty, thinking about leaving the mortal world behind forever. Even if her father and her don’t get along all the time, he's still her father. He raised her, all alone. Plus, she would be leaving right after graduating from high school. While all of her friends prep for college, she’s be prepping to leave the mortal realm indefinitely. Even though her magic is one of the most important things to her… she always imagined strolling across some campus on a fall day, Caroline and Elena by her side…

Grams’s pointed tone pulls Bonnie out of her thoughts. “Oh, look, here’s Tyler. He’s becoming a fine young werewolf, isn’t he?”

Caroline and Bonnie peer at the crystal ball, where Tyler is strolling through the town square, leather jacket on. His eyes glint yellow and his canines are more pronounced than the last time Bonnie saw him. Bonnie catches the look of interest on Caroline’s face, and elbows her, giggling.

“Stop, Bonnie!” Caroline laughs.

Bonnie grins gleefully. “What? Look, I’m just saying-”

“Wait, shh,” Caroline straightens, glancing towards the window.

Grams raises her eyebrows. “What’s the matter, dear?”

“Someone’s coming,” Caroline frowns.

“Who?” Bonnies asks.

“I… don’t know,” Caroline admits. “But definitely not human.”

Bonnie furrows her brows. “Someone from Halloweentown?”

Grams shakes her head slowly. “I didn’t invite anyone...”

“I-” Caroline relaxes again.

“Care?” Bonnies asks.

Caroline’s face clears. “It’s gone, whatever it is. Sorry. I’m - just ignore me.”

“You sure, dear?” Grams says. “You shouldn’t ignore your intuition. A vampire’s sixth sense is one of the most powerful things in the world.”

“Yeah, I think I’m just - you know, my senses have been kinda wonky these past few weeks. I’m sure it’s nothing,” Caroline says.

“If you’re sure,” Bonnie frowns.

“Yeah, yeah,” Caroline says. “Now, come on. Sheila, let’s go enjoy the party! It’s our night, right?”

Grams looks at Caroline and then at Bonnie, a smile gracing her lips. “Yes, yes, of course!”

 

+++

 

Bonnie finds her father shaking hands with some local business owners. She patiently waits for their shoptalk to be over before she grabs his elbow and pulls him into the mostly deserted kitchen. The old women who live next door are picking out all the orange M&Ms from a large bowl and feeding them to one another. They’re dressed as ketchup and mustard bottles. Bonnie thinks it’s pretty cute.

“Dad,” she starts.

“Bonnie,” he raises an eyebrow.

“I’m… I’m not turning against you,” she says. “I love you.”

He softens slightly. “Honey, I know-”

“But I’m a witch,” Bonnie says. “I can’t just not be. I can’t not be who I am-”

“A witch doesn’t have to be who you are, though, Bonnie,” his father says. “I wish you could see things from my side-”

“The side where you hide my heritage from me for sixteen years?” Bonnie snaps.

They stare at one another for a few moments, before Bonnie sighs again. She pushes her bangs out of her eyes, and then opens her mouth to speak again. Her father beats her to it.

“I’m sorry, Bonnie. But I get just as frustrated as you. I want you to learn what I know, too. Magic...” he trails off slightly. “Magic can give you whatever you wish for, but nothing’s worth anything if you can get it just by wishing. Your mother taught me that. That’s why she chose to leave Halloweentown, to raise you here...“

“Then Mom didn’t understand her gifts,” Bonnie tells him. “Magic isn’t - it’s not just wishing, getting things easily. I’ve been training so hard. Learning new languages, honing my skills-”

“Skills that just give you a leg up on everyone else who hasn’t been cur-” Dad pauses. “Given the advantages you have.”

“But - it’s not like I use magic for everything! I don’t use it on tests - well, besides that one algebra exam but - anyway, what’s so bad about taking advantage of my gifts?” Bonnie asks, stressing _gifts_.

Dad sighs. “Bonnie, you can’t pick and chose. If you go to Halloweentown for a year, that’s going to become your life. You’ll be a stranger in this world after that.”

She hears the underlying threat - _you’ll be a stranger to me, after that_ \- and it ties her heartstrings into knots. Bonnie glances away from him, towards a trio of candles burning on the countertop. She clenches her teeth, and they flicker, bright blue, for a just a moment.

When she turns to look back at her father, he’s already walking away from her.

 

+++

 

Bonnie wanders outside, trying to find some fresh air and alone time. She walks over to the small birdbath fountain in the backyard, emotions and magic simmering at her fingertips. She’s not even sure how she’s feeling; it’s all a jumble of negativity. She just kind of wants to let off some steam, even though she knows that’s dangerous, with so many humans around.

She glances over her shoulder and doesn’t see anyone. Taking a deep breath, she lifts her hands, placing them right over the water in the fountain. Focusing her concentration, it ripples and then ignites. A rush of energy flows through her as the water changes into fire. She twitches her fingers, molding the flames into little people. They dance around the rim of the fountain under her command. First the tango, then a foxtrot, and then the dougie…

“Bonnie?” Elena’s voice floats out from behind her.

“Hope we’re not interrupting,” a male voice says.

Bonnie jerks, and then waves her hand over the fountain. Immediately, the flames collapse back into water. There’s a slight oily smell, like a gas station, but it’s not too strong. Bonnie tries to steady her beating heart, and then turns with a smile on her face.

Elena is standing right in the doorway with Kai Parks, the new transfer to their class. Bonnie can’t see his eyes from where she’s standing, but his gaze seems intense. He’s wearing all black, with a old leather jacket; his hair slicked back, and he has a thousand rings on, as usual. She’s not sure why that seems so sexy, but it does.

Elena tilts her head slightly, eyes shooting back and forth between Kai and Bonnie. Bonnie has to hold back a laugh; her friend’s matchmaking could not be more obvious. Ever since Kai started at Mystic Falls High, Bonnie’s felt this growing attraction to him. He was smart, had a wicked sense of humor, and was just slightly dark and sarcastic in everything he did. Elena wouldn’t stop teasing her about it, and was constantly trying to get them together. Caroline said he kinda weirded her out, but teased Bonnie that she only liked him because of her witchy obsessions.

Whatever it is, there’s something about Kai that excites her.

He and Elena step out into the backyard. Bonnie can’t help but glance at the fountain, just to double-check that her flames are quashed.

“Bonnie, look who I found wandering around,” Elena says.

Kai reaches out to give Bonnie a hug. As his palms slide up her back, she feels a small jolt, like electricity. She’s never felt anything like it before. Her mouth opens slightly, and his thumb gently strokes her through her shirt.

“It’s a pleasure to see you, Bonnie,” Kai says, holding her eyes as he pulls away.

Her entire body burns. “Hi.”

Elena grins at her. “Kai just showed up with his sister, Jo.”

Bonnie clears her throat. “Oh, really?”

He nods. “Thanks for the invite again, Bonnie. It’s cool that the mayor throws this every year.”

“Well, you’re definitely welcome,” Bonnie says.

Kai tilts his head slightly. “You know, if all witches were as pretty as you, they’d have a better reputation.”

Bonnie freezes for a moment, her eyes shooting to Elena’s. Elena raises her eyes upward, like she’s asking some deity for help; it takes a split-second for Bonnie to realize her friend is trying to signal Bonnie’s hat. A surprised laugh escapes Bonnie, and she reaches up, touching the brim. Kai smirks at her.

“Oh, yeah,” Bonnie says. “Thanks.”

“I better get inside,” Elena says, eyes twinkling. “Jo brought some, uhm, cherry ice cream, I told her I’d help her find some space in the freezer for it.”

Kai chuckles a little, like Elena’s told him a joke. “Sorry about that. Red’s her favorite color.”

“No, it’s - uhm, it’s very sweet that you brought something,” Bonnie says.

“It’s our pleasure,” Kai says.

Elena winks at Bonnie. She tells Kai she’ll catch him later, before disappearing back into the house. She closes the door behind her; the music and noise from the party becomes muted.

It’s just the two of them in the backyard. It's dark, except for the dim light coming down from the spattering of stars out and the bright moon. Bonnie tilts her face up, smiling at it for a moment. It’s the second full moon of October, and the fact that it’s on Halloween makes it feel even more special.

“So, no costume?” Bonnie asks. “I feel like I should take points away just for that.”

“I am wearing a costume.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah, it’s Guy Not Wearing a Costume,” Kai says.

Bonnie laughs. “Real clever.”

He smiles at her. “No, I’m just not super into dressing up.”

“Ah.”

“But you look great, in your element,” Kai says.

Bonnie grins. “Yeah, I love dressing this way… you know, in costume. And you know, the school dance? They host it every year, and give a prize to best dressed, so that’s always fun.”

“Sounds interesting,” he says. “I don't know. For me, it’s hard to come up with something good, and I also just don’t think it’s worth the effort. And a lot of the stuff people wear is… disrespectful.”

She says, “Yeah, I feel that.”

“Don’t tell Jo, though. She loves it,” he says. “She’s gone the _Walking Dead_ route this year.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll see her soon, I’m sure,” he smirks.

“Hah. Okay.” Bonnie pauses for a minute. ““It’s just you and Jo, right?”

Kai nods his head. “Yup.”

“What’s the age gap?”

Kai smiles, like he’s sharing a secret. “About twenty years. But we’re twins.”

Bonnie says, “It’s like that with my cousin, Lucy. She’s much older than me but we’re really similar, we get along well.”

“Do you see her often?”

“Not as much as I would like,” Bonnie says. “She lives... out of town.”

“It’s hard, to not have family around,” Kai says. It sounds almost sarcastic.

“Yeah,” Bonnie nods. “It’s - for a long time, it was just my dad and I. But my Grams just moved in with us last year, too. I think I’ve mentioned her to you, before...”

“I think I saw her, inside,” Kai says. “At least, I saw another beautiful woman dressed up as a witch, too. Family tradition?”

Bonnie snorts. “You have no idea.”

“I think I can guess,” he says.

His hand trails along the rim of the fountain, and Bonnie stares at his long fingers. It looks like he’s drawing runes on the stone with the pad of his index finger.

“So this is where Bonnie Bennett lives,” he says.

Bonnie smiles. “Yup, in all its suburban, middle class glory.”

He glances up at her. “Do I get to see Bonnie Bennett’s room?”

She teases him. “I don’t know. Do you promise to be good?”

He laughs, deep and sultry. “Not at all.”

 

+++

 

Kai spins around slowly, looking at everything. It feels kind of like an intrusion, and for a moment, Bonnie wonders if she shouldn’t have let him up here. But the noise from the party downstairs keeps her centered, and it seems okay. Besides, the door is wide open, and it’s not like she has any of her witchy paraphernalia out in the open.

He seems to pause on the painting of sailboats that her father gave her two Christmases ago. Bonnie sits on her bed, leaning back on her hands.

“Did you just move into this house?” he asks, looking at her over his shoulder.

She frowns. “No, I grew up here. Why?”

“No offense, but your room is so boring.”

She laughs, startled. “Huh?”

“People’s rooms usually look like them, and yours doesn’t,” he says, moving to sit next to her on the bed.

She smirks. “Good to know you don’t think I’m boring.”

“Never.” He laughs. “It’s just, you strike me as… unconventional. But in a very good way.”

“No, I get it,” Bonnie smiles. “I guess my room is kinda ordinary. But Dad likes ordinary, so...”

“And Dad’s the boss.”

“Yeah.” Bonnie sighs. “What about Jo?”

Kai says, “She lets me do my own thing. She doesn’t care about… appearances. My parents were very different, though.”

“Yeah?”

He turns his head slightly. “All about image. They liked things they way they were always done. Never any room for something… different.”

“That’s my dad, alright,” Bonnie says. “Why are parents such asshole sometimes?”

Kai doesn’t respond, and it takes Bonnie a moment to play back the bitterness of her tone. She hesitates for a moment. It’s one thing to bash her dad, but it’s another to basically say the same thing about Kai’s parents, who she’s pretty sure are dead. Embarrassment washes over her.

“I-”

“You’re completely right.” Kai chuckles. “But what about your grandmother? She seems cool.”

Bonnie smiles, breathes easier. “Grams is the best, definitely. I’m just like her.”

“And is her room just like yours?” he asks.

His fingertips brush against her hand. She holds back a shiver, as he draws another design over her skin.

“Why don’t I show you,” she says.

 

+++

 

“I didn’t even notice there was a door here,” Kai says as they enter Grams’s room.

Bonnie’s heart pound, but not from nerves. No, this is something… she’s excited. For maybe the first time all night, she’s actually eager to be doing something. She knows she’s not supposed to have anyone in here but… it’s kind of delightful, making mischief on Halloween. Her blood feels like it’s singing, like all of her ancestors are telling her that it’s fine that she’s here, with Kai.

She watches him spin around, clearly as enthralled by Grams’s room as she is. His eyes are devouring everything - from her cauldron ingredients on armoire to her spider-themes duvet cover to all of the ancient, dusty tomes stacked high on her desk. Bonnie feels proud, almost; like yes, this is her grandmother’s stuff, this is all part of her legacy.

“This is so cool,” he says.

“Yeah, I love it in here.”

He turns to look at her slowly. “Is this just for Halloween?”

Bonnie shakes her head. “She’s, uh, very into the whole, supernatural thing.”

“Supernatural thing?”

“Yeah,” Bonnie licks her lips. “You know, all those stories. Fairy tales, fables…”

He bends slightly to inspect the labels on her ingredient jars. Bonnie tilts her head slightly and wonders if it would be inappropriate to send a Snap of his ass to Caroline and Elena. She leans against her grandmother’s desk with a soft, content sigh. She shifts, jumping onto it, settling as she sits.

“Hair of the werewolf,” he says. “Couldn't have been easy to get.”

Bonnie snorts as Tyler’s befuddled glare pops into her head. “It wasn’t, believe m- uhm. In all the old fairy tales, it’s not.”

Kai smiles slowly. “Oh, so you know about this witch stuff, too. Should’ve known.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve seen the doodles in your notebook,” Kai says. “Little monsters, right? It’s cute.”

Bonnie laughs. “Oh, yeah. No, that’s… I just get bored in class, sometimes.”

“You’re telling me,” Kai says. “It all seems… pointless. Compared to what we could really be learning, you know?”

Bonnie nods. “Yeah, exactly.”

“But it’s cool that you’re into this stuff too,” Kai nods his head at her. “Witch stuff.”

“I always have been,” Bonnie tells him.

He steps away from the armoire, moving closer to her. “Do you know any magic spells?”

“Well, sure,” she teases him. “But they’re pretend ones. Of course.”

“Of course,” he’s just a few feet away from her.

“See, there are common spells that every witch knows… Supposedly.” she blinks up at him. “And then there are the really secret ones that are only known to the witch who made them up.”

“Or warlock,” he says, thighs brushing against her knees. “That’s what male witches are called, right? Warlocks?”

Her lips curl up into a smile. “So you know some stuff, too.”

“Just from movies and things, but they’re not really that educational,” Kai says. “Did your Grams teach you a lot?”

Bonnie nods. “Yeah. She feels like witches are really misunderstood, so she likes to talk about them.”

He leans in closer, and she can smell his cologne. Her stomach jumps as his arms go on either side of her, pressing her closer into the desk. His palms lay flat on the surface, thumbs brushing against her thighs. There, again, is that little jolt of electricity. She tilts her head up, wondering if it’s wrong that their first kiss is gonna be in Grams’s room -

“Woah, is this supposed to be a book of spells?” he asks.

She blinks, confused for a moment. He’s leaning just past her, staring at something on the desk behind her with a curious expression on his face. He’s looking down at her grandmother’s grimoire, hand reaching for it. Without thinking, she grabs his arm, nails pressing into the fabric of his jacket to stop him.

“No!” she snaps.

He turns his head, lips just half an inch away from hers. “Bonnie?”

Heat floods her cheeks.

“Sorry, it’s, yes, that’s what it’s supposed to be,” she says. “But you can’t touch it.”

“Oh, come on,” Kai smirks. “Isn’t this all just pretend?”

“Well, sure,” Bonnie hesitates. “But it’s still my grandmother’s stuff. And we really shouldn’t be in here, when she’s not. So I...”

“Okay,” Kai says, voice soft.

He gently pulls his hand back and away from the grimoire. Bonnie is just about to let his arm go when he slowly places it on her knee, and then slides it up her thigh instead. Her breath catches in her throat. He’s so close, practically caging her in, and she likes it. Likes the way he smells and the dark look in his eyes and the way his fingers tense ever so slightly on her leg.

“I won’t touch anything that you don’t want me to,” he whispers.

She feels almost drunk, even though she didn’t even drink much of the rum and coke Caroline had given her. All of her nerves feel lit up with sparks. Almost unconsciously she opens her legs, and Kai steps between her thighs. Her hand slides up his arm, curling around his bicep and tugging him forward. He’s still smirking when he tilts his head down to hers, eyes like a storm. They stay like that for a few moments, Bonnie’s breathing ragged.

When he finally kisses her, she can’t help but press herself against him. With just a few nips and swipes of his tongue, he has her clenching her thighs around his, and her nails scraping against his jacket.

They don’t stop kissing until Bonnie’s phone goes off. It’s a video of Caroline and Elena, wiggling their eyebrows at the camera, asking if she’s with 'the Draco to her Hermione.' Bonnie giggles; the sound dies in her throat as she watches Kai adjust himself in his jeans.

“We should get back downstairs,” she says, voice low and breathless.

“I’m right behind you,” he says.

 

+++

 

She finds Caroline and Elena in the kitchen with a woman who looks exactly like Kai, but older, dressed as a zombie. It almost startles Bonnie; the suit is huge and slimy looking, and nothing like any of the sexy Halloween costumes she’s used to seeing in Mystic Falls. They’re all standing around, eating blood red ice cream. The woman in the zombie costume - Jo, Bonnie assumes - is the only one who seems to be enjoying it. Bonnie steps into the kitchen, Kai right beside her. He has her hand pressed into her lower back; it’s hot, like a brand.

“So you like the ice cream?” Jo asks.

Elena bares her teeth into a smile. “It’s great.”

“Hi,” Bonnie clears her throat.

“Oh, hello! You must be Bonnie,” Jo says, smiling at her. “And Kai, as well!”

Caroline asks, “Hey, you two.”

“Ice cream, Kai? Bonnie?” Jo offers her bowl to them.

“Uhm, no thanks,” Bonnie says.

Beside her, Kai shakes his head no. “Actually, I think I’m gonna head home.”

Bonnie tries not to look too disappointed. It helps that she wants to laugh once she catches the resigned look on Elena’s face.

“Really? But it’s so early,” Caroline says, narrowing her eyes slightly.

Kai says, “I actually was going to go home and change.”

“Change?” Elena asks.

Kai shoots Bonnie a look. “I hear there’s a costume contest at the dance later. I don’t wanna be left out.”

“Scared that Guy Who’s Not Wearing a Costume won’t win the big prize?” Bonnie asks, tilting her head up.

He grins at her. “I can do much better.”

“I can’t wait to see it, then,” Bonnie says.

Kai licks his lips, and she tracks the movement. “Hey, why don’t we go together?”

Bonnie’s glances towards Elena and Caroline. “I...”

He nods, looking sheepish. “Oh, sorry. I should’ve realized you-”

“Nope, she has no plans, not with us or anyone else,” Elena practically shouts.

“Yeah,” Caroline says, finally giving a small smile. “She’s free.”

“Great,” Kai says, pleased. “Bonnie? Is that-”

“Yes,” Bonnie blurts out. “Yes, perfect.”

“Pick you up at 11:30?”

Bonnie smiles. “Yeah. See you then.”

Jo puts her bowl down in the sink. “You know, it is getting pretty late. I’ll head out with you, Kai.”

Bonnie watches them head out of the kitchen, holding in her small screech until Kai’s back is out of view. Elena turns to her, face lit up in excitement. Caroline raises her eyebrows, a conspiratorial look on her face.

“What were you two doing?” Elena practically squeaks.

Bonnie feels her face heat up, but she winks. “Let’s just say I definitely was not being a good witch tonight.”

 

+++

 

Bonnie wanders back into the living room, ears full of Elena and Caroline’s laughter and encouragement. Grams is back at the table with her magic bag. But instead of being surrounded by joyful children, they all look resigned. One of them is close to tears, sniffling right at Grams’s elbow.

“What happened there?” Elena asks, frowning.

Bonnie shakes her head, and heads over to Grams. Elena and Caroline are right on her heels, crowding around the table and peering into Grams’s bag.

“I’m sorry children, it looks like we’re all out,” Grams says, voice eerily flat.

“Out?” Caroline asks.

Bonnie watches as Caroline puts her hand in the bag, a look of surprise coloring her face.

“What is it?” Elena asks.

Caroline says, “It’s empty.”

Bonnie snorts. “Duh, Care. It’s always empty. That’s why it’s magic when we pull things out of it-”

“No, Bon, there’s nothing in there,” Caroline frowns. “Even by magic.”

“What?” Bonnie shakes her head. “No, that’s impossible-”

Elena starts waving her hands, trying to get the attention of the disappointed children around them. “Well, kids, the bag is empty, but why don’t you come with me to the front hall? I know there’s a pumpkin full of candy there!”

Bonnie turns her head to mouth a thank you to Elena as she shuffles the kids out of the room. Grams is still staring down at the bag, muttering spells in a number of different languages. Bonnie only catches a few of them - Igbo, Sumerian, Gaelic - before her grandmother stops, a deep frown of concentration on her face.

“I’ve had this for centuries,” she says. “And it’s never been empty before.”

Bonnie and Caroline exchange a look. Behind her, a male voice makes Bonnie flinch.

“Empty?” her father says. “Well, that’s no wonder.”

Bonnie looks at him sharply. “Dad-”

Her father says, “I’m just saying, every day for a year, you’ve been pulling out bat games, dancing skeletons, enchanted toads, back issues of _Magic Monthly_ -”

“It’s _The Magician’s Times_ ,” Bonnie mumbles.

“-And hey, let’s not forget the ogre with the flatulence problem.”

Caroline sniffs. “I actually liked Stinky. ”

Dad gives them both a look. Before he can say anything, another neighbor is calling him over. He walks away, greeting them loudly and professionally. Bonnie rolls her eyes. Grams shakes her head, like she’s barely heard a word.

“It just can’t run out. It’s connected to my home back in Halloweentown, with all my charms and my spells,” she says. “Oh. Perhaps… perhaps I should just pop back up to Halloweentown, just to go look at my house.”

“That’s a great idea!” Caroline beams. “Bonnie, Elena and I will go with you!”

Bonnie’s about to agree, when she catches a glimpse of her father’s back. He's holding himself rigidly, like he's waiting to be attacked. 

“Ugh, forget it, Care. Dad will never let me go. He’ll just rant that I’m trying to sneak away a year early-”

Grams cuts her off, snapping her bag close with a definitely _click_. “Well, perhaps if I said I need your help with a technical problem...”

Caroline beams. “I’ll go grab Elena. And my coat.”

“This’ll never work-” Bonnie starts to say, before Caroline briskly shushes her and walks away.

“Don’t worry dear,” Grams smiles, sparks lighting up her eyes. “I’ll use my utmost powers of persuasion.”

Bonnie shakes her head. “And here I was trying to avoid the annual family meltdown.”

Grams reaches over and squeezes her hand. “It’ll work.”

“Hah,” Bonnie snorts, just as her father walks back up to them.

“Now, Bonnie, I’m gonna need your help to start cleaning up the place before you go off to the dance-”

“Oh, Rudy, you know that can be done with some candles and the snap of my fingers,” Grams says, lifting her hand up.

“Sheila! Not in front of the guests!” Her father hisses through his teeth.

“Oh, oh right,” Grams says, putting her hand down. “Ah, but anyway. My dear Rudy...”

“Sheila...”

“I just need to take Bonnie and the girls out, for a little bit, is that alright?”

He narrows his eyes. “Out, where?”

“Oh. Just home.”

“Home?” he gives Grams a stern look. “Sheila, Mystic Falls is Bonnie’s home-”

“We’ll be back in a jiffy,” Grams interrupts smoothly.

“Sheila-”

Her father stops as the owner of the Grill, Donnie, comes up to them, a wide smile on his face.

“Thank you so much for having us all over again, Mayor Hopkins,” he says.

“Oh hello,” Grams steps in. “I’m Shelia, Bonnie’s grandmother. Maternal, of course.”

“Nice to meet you-”

“Bonnie is going to spend a whole year with me next year, isn’t that fabulous?” Grams beams.

“Grams,” Bonnie mutters, shooting a glance at her father.

“How lucky for her,” Donnie says, unaware of the family tension.

“Or, she might be staying with me,” her father says. “Going to college, like we always planned-“

“Dad!”

“Bonnie-”

“Well, well, it’s time to get going, hmm?” Grams says, placing her arm on Bonnie’s and tugging at her. “We’ll be back soon, Rudy, don’t worry.”

Her father smiles tightly at them. “Before midnight.”

“I know, Dad,” Bonnie says. “I know.”

 

+++

 

After Bonnie deposits her cell back in her room, she and Grams leave the house together. Grams beams at Bonnie all the way to the bus stop. Caroline and Elena are already waiting for them. Elena gives a little wave. Grams seems to have a spring in her step, looking lighter and happier than Bonnie has seen her since she came from Halloweentown last year.

“See? Your father can be reasonable,” Grams says.

“Yeah,” Bonnie says dryly. “We should have a stranger there for all our family discussions.”

“You girls all ready to hit the ‘town?” Grams asks.

Bonnie catches the look Elena and Caroline throw each other. It looks guilty and dejected.

“You can’t go, can you?” Bonnie asks, sighing.

“Don’t be mad?” Elena says. “Apparently Jeremy’s eaten too many pot brownies, so I need to go home to make sure he’s okay.”

“And Mom is having me do a round with her before the dance,” Caroline rolls her eyes. “Making sure that people’s BAC isn’t too high.”

“I’m not mad,” Bonnie reassures them.

“Oh, what a shame,” Grams frowns. “Three young supernaturals should be out having fun, not bound to mortal responsibilities-”

“It’s okay, Sheila, really,” Caroline sighs. “There’s always next year.”

“Well, hmm, here!” Grams brightens, and begins to dig around in her jacket pockets. “Just in case you get off of babysitting and drunk driver duty early, take these!”

Bonnie watches as Grams pulls out three shrunken skulls, all with glowing eyes and silky ponytails. They smell a little funky, and she makes a face as Grams deposits the blue one into Elena’s hands, and the red one into Caroline’s hands.

“Uh,” Caroline glances at Bonnie.

“Ew,” Elena says.

"Grams, what are those things?"

“Well, dear, these are my head phones!” Grams claps. “They’re a bit like walkie talkies. I invented them myself.”

“Walkie talkies?” Bonnie asks.

“Since you can’t get regular cellular phone service in Halloweentown, I made these so that you could communicate across dimensions. That way, girls, you can let Bonnie know if you’re done early and pop right over!”

“Oh, sweet!” Caroline says.

Elena says, “I don't know if there’ll be enough time before the portal closes at midnight…”

Bonnie tentatively takes the purple skull from Grams and sticks it in her robes. “Time works so differently there anyway, we’ll probably be there for days before we have to be back.”

“Just be sure to be back in four hours, Bonnie,” Elena says. “Cause someone has a date.”

“A date? Oh, how exciting,” Grams says, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Caroline starts, “It's with Kai, Sheila, remember I told you, that guy in English with us who's always-”

“Care!” Bonnie shoots her a look.

“What?” She responds in her faux-innocent voice.

Bonnie rolls her eyes; Caroline responds by making her face vamp out quickly, sticking her tongue out jokingly.

“Your canines are growing in beautifully, Caroline,” Grams says with admiration.

“Grams!” Bonnie snaps. “Let’s summon the bus, please?”

“Why don't you try it by yourself, Bonnie?” Elena says encouragingly.

“What a splendid idea, Elena!” Grams says.

Bonnie grins, excitement infectious. “Okay.”

She clears her throat, holding her hands out in front of her. Elena and Caroline scoot to the side, both holding their head phones tentatively in their hands. Bonnie takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and focuses on bringing her magic to her palms.

“Gestum ex alius mundus nos te appello ut adduco domus.”

When she doesn’t hear the telltale squeak of the bus on pavement, Bonnie cracks one eye open. Elena and Carolina both have their lips pressed together, like they’re trying not to laugh at her.

“Try it again with more feeling,” Grams suggests.

Bonnie clears her throat, and says with gusto, “Okay. Ahem. Gestum ex alius mundus nos te appello ut adduco domus!”

Nothing happens again. Bonnie frowns, letting her arms drop down to her sides. A twinge of annoyance runs through her. She’s sure she’s strong enough to do this spell. It’s literally just like calling a cab.

“Maybe Al’s just really busy tonight,” Caroline says.

“He’s always busy on Halloween,” Bonnie points out.

“He must’ve lost the keys or something,” Grams says soothingly. “He would lose his head if his wife didn’t put it in his lunchbox every day!”

Bonnie feels marginally better, cracking a smile at her grandmother. “Hah, yeah.”

“We’ll just call up the portal ourselves!” Grams says.

Caroline grins. “That’s so exciting! Advanced magic, Bonnie!”

Bonnie feels a thrum of excitement flow through her, and doesn’t even try to tamp down her feelings. Instead, she faces her grandmother, grin wide on her face, and lifts her hands up. A shiver runs up her back as their fingers and palms touch. It’s the same kind Bonnie always when she brushes against artifacts that have belonged to her ancestors. It’s the high of being with another Bennett witch, how their powers call to each other.

Grams nods, and she and Bonnie begin to speak slowly in unison.

“From the mortal world depart we now, on this, the night, All Hollow’s Eve, back into Halloweentown, through the portal we take our leave!”

 

+++

 

Before they even step a foot into Halloweentown, Grams is talking a mile a minute.

“Oh, it feels so good to be back! Caroline was right, I needed to come home,” Grams says, waving her arms around.

Bonnie steps onto Main Street, the portal door groaning and closing behind them. She stands there for a moment, shaking off the residual dimension-traveling static from her body, half listening to Grams talk.

“I’ve been missing my friends quite terribly, you know.”

“I know Grams,” Bonnie says softly. “I-”

She stops herself, finally getting a good look around her. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she turns slowly, realizing that something is extremely wrong. All of the bright colors she’s always associated with Halloweentown - crisp reds, burnt oranges, brilliant blues, bold purples - are missing from the landscape. From the sky to the storefronts to the clothing, everything is in some shade of grey. Even the creatures walking around are grey.

Bonnie’s mouth drops open as she sees a couple walking along the road slowly. Their faces are drawn in, ashen, and there’s nothing festive about them at all. They look like they belong in a cubicle somewhere.

Bonnie turns to ask Grams if this is some kind of prank, when her eyes catch on the town jack-o-lantern; rather, what used to be the town jack-o-lantern. Instead of a deviously carved face grinning at her, there’s nothing but a solid gray cube. Grams is already staring at it, lips parted and eyes hard. Bonnie’s heart starts racing, and a peculiar feeling drags over her. Like when she’s walked right into a cobweb, unawares, and now has sticky residue all over her clothes and skin.

Bonnie bites her lips. “Grams? What’s… is this some kind of joke?”

“This is no joke,” Grams says. “As goes the jack-o-lantern, so goes Halloweentown.”

“Grams, what’s… what’s happened here?” Bonnie swallows. “Everything’s all… Gray. Boring.”

“Not just everything,” Gram’s tone is grim. “Everyone.”

Someone steps in front of Bonnie slowly; without thinking, Bonnie latches onto their arm, tugging them closer.

“I’m sorry, but can you tell me what’s happening here?” she asks. “Excuse me, I-”

The person turns slower than molasses, and Bonnie can’t help but gasp in shock. It’s Stefan Salvatore, but not like Bonnie has ever seen him before. His hair is neatly trimmed and he has on light gray slacks and a polo shirt. His normally severe features are rounded slightly. Bonnie stares, not even surprised that she didn’t recognize him.

“Stefan?” Grams gasps. “Stefan, is that you?”

Stefan nods once. “I’m Stefan.”

“Stefan, what’s happened to you?” Grams asks.

“What do you mean?” his voice is bored, measured.

“Well, you’re - you’re all Gray,” Bonnie gestures. “Your hair isn’t gelled and -”

Before their eyes, his garish daylight ring shimmers brightly, before there’s a small _pop_. It disappears off of his finger. Before Bonnie can summon an umbrella or a heavy jacket to cover him, a plain wristwatch appearing. Stefan shifts, unbothered by the sun; he glances down at the watch. 

“Your ring,” Grams sounds devastated.

“Oh, look at that,” Stefan’s voice is monotone. “How sensible. It’s always important to know the time.”

“Stefan...” Bonnie trails off.

“Excuse me, now,” he says. “The check engine light has been on in my brother’s car for quite a while. I should get that to the shop.”

He slowly walks around them, back towards the street. Bonnie twists, about to call back to him, when someone else bumps right into her and keeps moving without another word. They’re slouching and wearing a letterman jacket.

“Excuse you,” she snaps. “Could you watch where you’re going?”

The person half-turns. “Whatever.”

Grams mutters, “Oh, I hate that word...”

Bonnie is about to yell again, but then stops, staring at the retreating back. “Wait. Tyler?”

The letterman turns, and Bonnie stares at her old friend. Except he doesn’t look at all like a young werewolf anymore. Gone are the yellow eyes, sharp teeth, and heavy sideburns. Instead, he looks like any other football player at Mystic Falls High, a bored expression on his face.

“Yeah? Can I help you?” he asks, chewing some gum with his mouth open.

“This can’t be,” Grams shakes her head.

“Tyler? What happened to you?” Bonnie steps forward, head spinning. “You… you look just like you did when Joshua Parker put that spell on you to curb your wolf.”

He shrugs again. “Whatever.”

“Would you stop that!” Bonnie snaps. “Look, what is going on?”

“Honey, can you tell us why you’re Gray?” Grams asks.

Tyler rolls his eyes. “Everyone’s doing it.”

Bonnie feels like stamping her foot. “That’s not what she meant!”

Grams grips her arm tightly, steering her away from Tyler for a moment. They almost bump into a street vendor selling heads of lettuce, which Bonnie is sure used to be a popcorn and cotton candy cart.

“It has to be a spell,” Grams’s tone is ominous.

“A spell?” Bonnie frowns. “You think someone could put a spell on all of Halloweentown? How could they do that?”

Grams frowns. “I’m not sure. But this spell… it seems very familiar...”

“Familiar? How?”

“It seems to not only be turning the creatures Gray, but once it progresses far enough, into humans.”

Bonnie lifts an eyebrow. “Humans? Come on, Grams. They’re not this boring.”

“Well, then I should say caricatures of humans,” Grams says. “Just as humans make fun of us from the mortal world at Halloween…”

A sick feeling knots in Bonnie’s stomach. “But who would cast a spell like this?”

“I don’t know, but someone is destroying my home!” Grams’s eyes spark.

Bonnie squeezes her arm. “Okay, but let’s not get too upset. Let’s think, first. Undoing spells isn’t that difficult, right? You just have to gather the right materials and say them backwards.”

Grams places her hand on top of Bonnie’s. “Right, right you are, dear.”

“And you said it seems familiar, right?” Bonnie frowns. “Maybe… maybe there’s something in your grimoire?”

Grams thinks for a moment. “Yes I remember… something about a spell that… hmm...”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I haven’t looked at it in centuries, but it was similar to this.”

“Well, that’s good, then maybe there’s a spell in the grimoire than can cure it.”

“It’s certainly worth a try.” Grams nods. “Can you call Caroline on the head phone and ask her to look in my grimoire for me?”

Bonnie nods. “Sure thing, Grams.”

Bonnie pulls out the purple skull from her grandmother's bag, cupping it in her palms. She brings it up to her face; it smells like cinnamon potpourri. She clears her throat and says Caroline’s name a few times; the crystal eyes begin to glow. After a few moments, the jaw starts chattering back at her. Bonnie has to tense her fingers to keep from dropping it in surprise.

“Bonnie? Is that you?” Caroline’s voice comes through the skull.

Bonnie lifts it higher. “Hey, girl, yeah, it’s me.”

“What’s up? Everything okay?”

Bonnie glances at a little Gray boy with goblin ears slowly rolling a wooden hoop down the street. “Uh. Not exactly.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Something’s happened to Halloweentown,” Bonnie says. “Everything’s turned Gray. All the creatures are transforming into boring humans.”

“What!”

“Can you run over to my house really quick, and read a spell out of my Grams’s grimoire to me?”

“Sure thing,” Caroline says.

“Thanks, Care-”

“I’m in,” Caroline says, not even out of breath. “Okay, where’s the grimoire?”

“It should be right on Grams’s desk,” Bonnie says.

For a moment, she can feel the ghost of Kai’s lips on hers, and she blushes. Grams is too busy staring at Main Street in distress to notice.

“Right, uhm...” Caroline hesitates.

“Care?”

“I don’t see it.”

“It’s right on the desk,” Bonnie repeats.

“It’s not here.”

“What do you mean, it’s not there?” Bonnie’s voice raises.

“I mean it’s just not here, Bon.”

Bonnie tries to swallow down her growing panic. “No, it has to be there.”

“Maybe Sheila misplaced it?”

“A witch never misplaces her grimoire,” Bonnie says. “Besides, it’s huge.”

“Well,” Caroline sounds doubtful. “She misplaced the ogre...”

“You and I both know Stinky liked playing hide and seek!” Bonnie says.

Bonnie jumps when Grams finally speaks. “Someone must have taken it.”

Bonnie frowns. “What? No, that’s impossible!”

“Someone must have been in my room while I was down at the party,” Grams insists. “Maybe your father?”

“I don’t think Dad would go into your room,” Bonnie says, guilt growing in her stomach.

“And the door would’ve been hidden to anyone who isn't supernatural,” Caroline says. “Elena and I definitely didn’t go into your room. And I didn’t feel anyone new.”

Bonnie blows a breath. “Grams, I… ”

“Bonnie?”

“I was in there, for a few minutes,” Bonnie says.

Grams looks at her for a minute, eyes assessing. “You brought someone in there with you, didn’t you.”

It’s not a question.

Bonnie says, “Kai. But, Grams… he couldn’t have taken it. I was with him the entire time!”

“It’s… not looking good, Bon,” Caroline says. "And - I knew there was something odd about him-"

“Maybe it was someone else,” Bonnie interrupts. “Care, can you smell anyone else’s scent in the room?”

A sniff, and then, “No.”

Grams squares her shoulders. “Bonnie, I’m not accusing your friend of anything. But I think we ought to go back to Mystic Falls and have a talk with him. Just in case.”

“Grams...” Bonnie bites her lip, feeling like shit.

Grams doesn’t say anything, simply holds her hands up. Bonnie tucks the head phone into her robes, and presses her palms against her grandmother’s. She can feel Grams’s anger simmering underneath her magic. The knot in Bonnie’s stomach twists, and tightens. Could Kai really have taken the grimoire? And if he had, to what end? Bonnie had known him for weeks, and not once, did she sense that he was supernatural. He had to be a human; even if Bonnie couldn't sense it, Caroline would have been able to smell if he was something else. 

“From Halloweentown depart we now, on this, the night, All Hollow’s Eve, back into the mortal world, through the portal we take our leave!”

Bonnie sighs in relief as the portal door materializes in front of them. But instead of it swinging open to reveal Mystic Falls on the other side, the door remains shut. Bonnie furrows her brow and waves her hand, trying to undo the latch with magic. When nothing happens, a feeling of dread crawls over her. It’s just like what happens whenever she’d tried to call the portal when it wasn’t Halloween night in the mortal world. She goes up the steps and tugs at the handle, putting all of her weight behind it.

Nothing happens. 

Grams drops her hands, her lips pressed into a tight line. “It’s just as I feared.”

“Grams?”

Grams says. “Just as humans cannot go through the portal, the Gray Spell has made it so we can’t, either.”

“So we’re trapped here?” Bonnie’s breath catches in her throat.

“Whoever cast this… must have also spelled my bag and knew I’d come to investigate...” Grams gestures towards Bonnie’s robes. “Give me the head phone.”

Wordlessly, Bonnie places the skull in her grandmother’s hands. Her mind splinters off into a hundred different directions as she feels anger pooling low in her stomach. She doesn't want to believe that it was Kai, but who else could it have been? She remembers his interest in the grimoire, the way he told her he would be right behind her. Had he taken it, then? Bonnie rubs her lips together, confused as to how a mortal would have been able to sneak away with the grimoire without her noticing. 

“Caroline?” Grams says. “Caroline, did you catch all of that?”

“Yeah, Sheila, I heard.”

“Okay. I need you to do something,” Grams says. “Go by this Kai’s house, see if you can sniff anything out. Take Elena with you. I don’t want you going alone.”

“I got it,” Caroline says.

“And try to find Lucy, Caroline,” Grams says. “I’m afraid this we’re going to need another Bennett to fight this.”

Caroline makes a noise of agreement. “I’ll call you as soon as I get an update.”

The skull snaps shut; the crystal eyes stop glowing. Grams gives it back to Bonnie, before closing her eyes with a sigh. Bonnie clenches her fingers around the skull. Whatever the case, she's going to figure out just what the fuck is happening here. 

“Grams-”

Grams holds her hand up. “Not now, Bonnie.”

“But Grams, I-”

“Go see if you can find Stefan,” Grams says. “Even if he is… human… maybe he can give us a ride to my house in his brother’s Camaro. I’m going to City Hall. Maybe the Originals Council hasn’t been affected yet. And we can see if… anyone has any more information...”

“Right,” Bonnie nods quickly, taking a deep breath. “Right, okay.”

 

+++

 

Bonnie turns another corner, sure that the Nosferatu Avenue Auto Shop is just down the block. She frowns as she steps into a residential neighborhood. She’s already been walking for a good ten minutes, and none of the creatures - humans? - That she’s tried to stop have been especially helpful.

The further down the block she goes, the more the pit in her stomach grows. She glances to her left. A house that she’s sure was once haunted, with a mad scientist’s lab attached to the garage, looks like a normal cul-de-sac. The grass is cut short and the hedges are immaculately shaped. An older woman sits in a rocking chair, but doesn’t even move. Bonnie almost lifts her hand to wave, but lets it drop to her side. She sighs, and keeps going.

The only house on the block that doesn’t seem completely Gray is at the very end. Bonnie pauses in front of it, looking up. The bright orange color of it is only slightly faded, and the wraparound porch is covered in cobwebs and giant spiders. Venus fly traps, blood flowers, and hemlock grow wildly across the lawn. Bonnie peers slightly up at it; there’s a sign above the front door with an intricate design on it.

The symbol for the Gemini Coven.

Bonnie realizes that this must be Joshua Parker’s family home.

She stands there for a moment, hovering in front of the path leading up to the house. She bites her lip, thinking hard. She knows that Joshua is gone. Lucy, Grams and her - they made sure of that. That none of his plans to bring darkness to Halloweentown and turn everyone against the mortal world died with him.

But…

How could she be sure? How could any of them?

Grams had told her that the only group of witches whose power rivaled the Bennetts was the Gemini Coven. Maybe there was a way that Joshua survived, and what he was doing now was all a part of his plan…

She rolls her shoulders back and marches towards the house. She reminds herself that she’s a Bennett witch, and that nothing and no one is stronger than her magic. She only hesitates once she reaches for the handle, but once she finds it unlocked, marches inside anyway.

Bonnie blinks once she’s inside, gently closing the door behind her. They foyer looks so familiar to her; she could be stepping into Grams’s house. From the warm, welcoming colors to the beautiful paintings on the wall, she thinks that no one could have ever guessed that a psycho lived here, once.

She wanders further into the house, not even sure what she’s looking for. Photos are everywhere, nestled on shelves between ancient books, hung up on the broomstick-patterned wallpaper, and prominently displayed on cat-shaped end tables. Her stomach turns just looking at some of them. Joshua is smiling in all of the ones he’s in, surrounded by laughing children.

She ends up in the kitchen. Everything is impeccably neat and dust-free, like the residual effects of a cleaning spell still haunt the cabinets after Joshua’s demise. An old cauldron sits on the center table. Bonnie looks at it, frowning a bit. Brows furrowed, she steps up to the cauldron, and wipes her finger against the rim. It’s slightly warm, like it was just recently used. She slowly lifts the other hand up, calling magic to her fingertips.

Then, there’s a voice behind her.

“Bonnie Bennett.”

When she turns, it’s with a rapidly beating heart in her chest and a summoned hunting knife in her hand. But the sight in front of her surprises her so much that her hand slacks around the handle, and her lips part.

“Kai?”

Kai stands in front of her, looking just as good as he did just a few hours ago, standing in her house in Mystic Falls. He’s not wearing his leather jacket; Bonnie can see his muscles flex beneath the black t-shirt as he shifts, crossing his arms over his chest. He nods at her, eyes assessing.

“Didn’t anyone tell you it’s impolite to enter someone’s house without their permission?” he asks.

“You.” She glares, tightening the grip on her knife.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? When we’re scared, and our instincts kick in, just what we reach for first to defend ourselves?” He points at her knife. “You can use magic, yet you create the most human of weapons.”

He snaps his fingers, and suddenly, the knife is a rose. Bonnie grits her teeth as the thorns on the stem bite into her fingers and palms. She throws it onto the ground, glaring at him. She can feel her anger rising in her chest, her magic tingling at her fingertips. When she notices the blood on her hand she wipes it on her robes. 

“You cast this spell on Halloweentown,” she says. “You stole my grandmother’s grimoire!”

“No, not stole, just borrowed,” he tuts at her. “Promise.”

“Who even are you?” she snaps. “And - what, you were just using me? Just to get my grandmother’s-”

His eyes widen. “No, not at all, Bonnie-”

She hisses, “don’t say my name.”

He tilts his head. “I wasn’t using you. I could have taken your grandmother’s grimoire at anytime. I was just trying to get to know you-”

Her head pounds. “You tricked me! You acted like you were just an interested human, when what? You’re a warlock?”

He says, “Hey, you tricked me too. You never told me you were a witch-”

She almost laughs. “But you already knew I was! You - did you know, this entire time? Ever since you started at Mystic Falls-”

He shrugs casually. “I mean, it’s not that difficult. You’re a Bennett through and through. Even if I couldn’t sense your magic from a mile away, you surround yourself with other supernaturals. It was easy to find you. You know, you really should be learning how to mask yourself. I could teach you, you know. Not even your blonde vampire friend would be able to sense you-”

“I- shut up!” Bonnie snaps. “What- why are you doing this? It’s evil-”

His eyes flash. “Is it?”

“You’ve turned all the creatures into these- these shadows of humans! You‘ve ruined Halloweentown!” Bonnie says.

“I didn’t make up this spell on my own,” he spits back. “I did it just the way it was written in Sheila’s grimoire. So maybe look at your own family before you say another word.”

Bonnie shakes her head. “Grams would never-”

“What?” he laughs, bitter and empty. “What would your Grams never do?”

“Create a horrible place like this,” Bonnie says. “Torture innocent creatures and trap them here.”

Kai’s eyes flash. “Trap. That’s an interesting word.”

She glares, and then he grins at her. Her heart flips, like the traitor that it is. 

He says, “Wow. You really don’t know anything about your grandmother at all, do you?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He shrugs. “Appearances aren’t reality, Bonnie Bennett. You of all people should know that.”

She watches him as he circles around her, keeping a few feet of space between them. Her eyes follow his hands. He touches almost all the surfaces of the kitchen, his fingers dancing across things. Marking them, she thinks now. Her entire body is tense, and she tries to relax. She knows she needs to keep a clear head, if he attacks her. Her powers are no good to her if she can’t keep herself in control.

“Like this quaint little home. You’d never know it was the site of tragedy,” his tone is neutral. “How many children did you count in those photos, Bonnie? See any monsters in them? Real monsters, I mean. Not like the kind you see in the grocery store, buying wormy oatmeal cookies. The kind that fathers isolate from their siblings.”

It finally dawns on her, why he would be in this house. “You’re - are you Joshua Parker’s son?”

He bows with a flourish; it would be comically cute, if she didn’t hate him so much, in this moment. Her mind starts to work overtime, trying to match the Kai who noticed her creature doodles with this Kai, who's a member of the Gemini Coven. Who, apparently, has no qualms with stealing another witch's grimoire or casting a terrible spell over an entire realm. 

“Malachai Parker, at your service,” he says. “Siphoner. Warlock. Abomination.”

She stares at him. “Why are you doing this?”

“Isn’t it obvious by now?” he asks. “Revenge, Bonnie.”

She doesn’t get it. “But why?”

He looks at her, eyes darkening. “Ask Sheila about what the Geminis did to me. And then when you’re ready to talk without biting my head off, I’ll find you.”

Kai snaps his fingers, and before Bonnie can even move, he’s gone.

 

+++

 

Bonnie stumbles back to Main Street, head spinning as she tries to figure out what exactly Kai - Malachai? - Had been talking about.

“Bonnie!” Grams calls out to her.

Her grandmother stands near the road with Stefan. He stands stiffly, wiping at an invisible spot on the windshield of Damon’s car. His arm moves in slow, circular movements. Bonnie hurries over to them, fists clenched.

“Bonnie?” Grams reaches for her. “You look like you've seen the headless horseman - Ewen never did know how to greet strangers properly-”

Bonnie cuts her off. “That's - Grams, I just saw Kai.”

Grams blanches. “What?”

“He's a warlock, Grams. Joshua Parker’s son. He admitted it, he stole your grimoire to do this spell.”

A dark look passes over Grams’s face. “Malachai Parker.”

“I didn't even know Joshua had any children,” Bonnie frowns. “I thought - didn't he say he was the last of the Geminis?”

Grams gestures towards the Camaro. “Bonnie, let's go to my house. It's not safe out here, especially if Malachai is running around.”

“Grams-”

“We can only hope that the Gray Spell hasn't affected my home yet, and my wards are still in place,” Grams says.

She pushes Bonnie gently towards the car. Bonnie sighs and opens the back door, sliding in and sitting heavily. She watches as Grams gestures at Stefan, asking him to give them a ride.

Stefan moves incredibly slowly. It feels like it takes him fifteen minutes just to open his door, buckle his seatbelt, and adjust his seat and all the mirrors. Bonnie grits her teeth to stop from groaning in frustration.

 

+++

 

As Stefan slows to an extremely careful stop in Grams’s driveway, Bonnie can only stare out of the window in horror. The house - once a beautifully decrepit thing from the outside, heavy with the weight of Bennett ancestors and their magic - has transformed into a prefab monstrosity. There’s a brick path leading up the house and a bed of tulips.

“I can’t believe Kai could do something like this with a spell from your grimoire,” Bonnie says after she gets out of the car.

Stefan adjusts his watch. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

“Oh, get out the car and shut up, Ripper,” Grams glowers.

 

+++

 

Bonnie doesn’t realize she’s holding in her breath until they enter Grams’s house, and it’s exactly the way she remembered it. It’s still light and airy, sunlight streaming in and illuminating all of Grams’s potions, ingredients, books, artifacts, and relics. Bonnie smiles at a photograph of her and Lucy, their arms around one another and laughing at the camera, from last Halloween. The black cat clock hanging on the wall nearby shows the time difference between the mortal world and Halloweentown. Bonnie is relieved to see that time hasn’t been affected by the Gray Spell. Where there’s about three more hours until midnight in Mystic Falls, twelve o’clock is still two days away in Halloweentown.

“Thank goodness,” Grams sighs in relief, looking around her home. “The ancestors must be protecting the house from the inside. When we came up, I feared the worst.”

Without meaning to, Bonnie says, “Appearances aren’t reality.”

“Yes, yes, dear, that is definitely true,” Grams says.

Grams leads Stefan into the kitchen, and Bonnie trails in after them. After depositing Stefan onto a toadstool, Grams goes around to the windows, muttering and feeling at the sills. Bonnie sits down at the table, her magic buzzing low and comforting just below her skin. Just being in Grams’s house is making her feel a million times better. She’s comforted, and her magic feels much more alive than it did walking around in the Gray. It unfortuntately does nothing to calm her confusion over Kai. 

“It looks like my wards are still in tact,” Grams says, satisfied. “Wonderful.”

Stefan looks at his nails. “They say no one’s as strong as a Bennett witch.”

Bonnie snorts. “Yeah, and thankfully we have generations of magic protecting this house.”

“All the way back to Ayana.” Grams nods. “We should be safe to talk here.”

Bonnie asks, “Did you find anything at City Hall?”

Grams shakes her head no. “Completely deserted. It’s like the Originals just up and left, without a trace.”

Bonnie sighs. “So we’re on our own.”

“We’re never quite as alone as we think, my dear,” Grams says.

“Yeah.”

“What did Malachai say to you?”

Bonnie licks her lips. “He said… he was doing all of this to get ‘revenge.’ Because of what the Geminis did to him.”

Grams’s mouth grows tight. “I see.”

“He also...”

“Bonnie?”

Bonnie speaks slowly. “He called himself an abomination. A… siphoner?”

“Yes,” Grams says grimly.

“Grams, what does that even mean?” Bonnie asks. “What is that? What’s happening?”

Grams sits down at the table, her movements seeming heavier than usual. Bonnie leans closer to her, elbows propped on the table. When she glances over at Stefan, he appears to be half asleep, little snores coming out of his mouth. Bonnie rolls her eyes. Grams snaps her fingers, and a heavy tome floats into the kitchen from the living room. It rests on the table between Bonnie and her grandmother. Grams snaps her fingers again, and it flips open.

Bonnie glances down at the pages. It looks similar to the storybook that Grams had given her when she was a child, showing all of the creatures in Halloweentown. But this one seems more like an encyclopedia - a bestiary, her mind supplies.

At the top of the page, ‘Siphoners’ is written in fancy script. Bonnie presses her lips together as she reads the description.

_Siphoners are a type of witch born without the ability to create their own magic. They can use and shape magic, but only once they have stolen (or, ‘siphoned’) it off of other creatures. Siphoners are extremely rare, and can only be born into witch families. Siphoners are considered abominations within covens. In most situations, siphoners are killed as soon as their powers become apparent. Luckily, there is only about one siphoner born every thousand years. No one knows exactly why or how siphoners are born. Very little is known about their abilities, particularly past adolescence._

A wave of disgust crashes over Bonnie. She lifts her eyes to see Grams staring at her carefully.

“Do you remember what I told you about the Gemini Coven?” Grams asks. “How they chose their leader?”

Bonnie tilts her head back slightly, thinking of Joshua. “The Merge. When… a pair of twins is born within the coven, they perform the ceremony when they turn twenty-two. The twin that survives… becomes the new leader.”

“Right,” Grams says. “And this practice… like many of the old ways… was outlawed when Halloweentown was created. Except Joshua wanted to bring it back to the Geminis. He said that it was their rightful legacy.”

Bonnie can hear Joshua’s taunting in her mind - _Your ancestors took everything from my coven! They took everything from the creatures of this town!_ \- And sinks a little bit lower in her seat.

“He and his wife got lucky on their first try,” Grams continues. “They had twins - Malachai and Josette.”

“Josette?” Bonnie frowns.

Grams nods. “But Malachai… he wasn’t like a regular warlock child. He couldn’t create his own magic. He could only cast spells once he stole it from someone else. A siphoner.”

“Stealing is bad,” Stefan says from his corner.

“The Geminis… many witches and warlocks… thought Malachai was cursed. There was an uproar in our community over it. And Joshua, although he wanted to bring back The Merge, saw… treated… Malachai as if he were something diseased." 

Bile rises up in Bonnie’s throat. “But… he would’ve just been a child. I first started recognizing my magic when I was six years old, and that was growing up in the mortal world! You’re telling me… his own family called him an… abomination his entire life?”

Grams nods slowly. “The older he got, the angrier he became. Especially after his parents began having more children, trying to have another pair of twins-”

Bonnie slams her fist on the table. “Why didn’t you stop it? Or - or the Originals? You could’ve-”

Grams stares at her levelly. “Bonnie, there are just some things out of others’ control. The Geminis were the most influential coven in Halloweentown. Even before that - in the Dark Times, they ruled the creature community -”

“So what, the rest of you just did nothing? You stood by and let a child be treated like-” Bonnie snaps her jaw shut.

“Sometimes all you can do is nothing,” Grams says.

Bonnie just blinks at her grandmother, biting back the words in her throat. She wants to scream, _that’s not true. You can always do something_. She pauses, though, startled by her own anger. She can feel the magic boiling just below her skin, and she breathes through her nose to calm her down. Hearing this story is like a shock to her system, skewing so many things that she had thought about her own grandmother, about Halloweentown. She had always thought that this was a place where all creatures could live in harmony, without fear. But instead... 

A pang of sympathy goes through her chest for Kai. It feels wrong, sitting inside of her alongside the fury she has for what he's done. She crosses her arms over her chest, and waits for Grams to continue speaking.

“Everyone knew that neither Malachi would become the new leader of the Geminis. But no one knew exactly what Joshua was planning until his eighteenth birthday, twenty years ago.” Grams sighs.

Bonnie’s eyes bulge. “Twenty years ago? But Kai looks like he’s my age-”

“I’m getting to that,” Grams says.

Bonnie bites on her lip. “Sorry.”

Grams continues. “As you know, the Gemini Coven assisted Qetsiyah when she invented and cast the spell to create Halloweentown. On Malachai eighteenth birthday, Joshua created a new spell that was very similar. But instead of making a new world, he created a prison world.”

“A prison world?”

Grams nods. “A place that looked exactly like Halloweentown, but with one exception. And that is time never passes.”

“Time never passes...?”

“In the prison world, it is the same day for eternity. And anyone trapped inside never ages. There is no escape, unless the caster releases you,” a dark look crosses Grams’s face. “Or, in this case, the caster dies.”

“So Kai was...” Bonnie tries to swallow, but her mouth is too dry. “So Joshua trapped his own son in a prison world, all because he was born without magic?”

Grams shakes her head. “It was more than that. Malachai was unbalanced -”

Bonnie shoots out of her seat. “Unbalanced?”

“Bonnie-”

“I would be too, if my entire community called me an abomination!” she snaps, pointing at the book in front of her. “Jesus, Grams, how - how could you just let this happen?”

Grams stays sitting. “Bonnie… I did more than just let this happen.”

Bonnie stares. “What?”

“Joshua’s spell could only be completed with the blood of a Bennett witch,” Grams says. “And I was a willing participant.”

Bonnie’s lips part, and it feels like everything around her is spinning. All of her assumptions about her grandmother, about her own family, have been kicked right from under her. She feels off-center. How could Grams do something like that? To someone - to a teenager, to someone her age? If she had been born as a siphoner, instead of a witch, would Grams have done the same thing to her? She thought that she knew loneliness, knew anger, ever since she found out that her father had hid - and actively hated - her witch heritage. But at least he hadn't tried to put her in solitary confinement for it. 

“What we did was, perhaps wrong,” Grams says. “But it was the only thing we could think of to keep anyone else from getting hurt.”

“What does that mean?”

“Malachai… a few months before we imprisoned him… he killed Josette.”

“What!”

Grams looks more tired that Bonnie has ever seen her before. “He figured out a spell to siphon all of her magic, similar to The Merge. Doing so killed her.”

Bonnie slowly lowers herself back into her chair. “Oh.”

Grams says, “We couldn’t risk him doing that to any other witch, warlock, or creature.”

Bonnie’s voice is soft. “So that's what he meant by revenge. That's why he stole your grimoire and cast the Gray Spell."

"Yes. And I fear he still has more planned."

"What do you mean?"

“If he’s willing to break the Code of Merlin, I think it’s safe to assume that he’s capable of anything,” Grams says quietly.

 

+++

 

Grams makes dinner after that, and then suggests that they all try to get a few hours of sleep before trying to figure out what to do next. Bonnie agrees, feeling more tired and older than she ever has before. Her body feels dragged down a bit, like she’s experiencing jet lag. The time change between the mortal world and Halloweentown is definitely getting to her. Besides, she’s bogged down with too many feelings and thoughts to do much of anything. It may only be a few hours before midnight, but seeing as how they can’t even summon a portal… Bonnie sighs. She’s stuck where she is for the moment, and she can’t even think about coming up with a plan.

After depositing Stefan in a guest room off the kitchen and ignoring his complaints about how it smells like werewolf sweat, Bonnie trudges up the stairs to her own room - her mother’s old room. She stands in front of the door for just a moment, fingers tracing over the runes carved there. She can recognize some of the languages, knows the translations. It’s typical teenager stuff - _don’t enter on fear of death!, may you be cursed if you come in without permission!,_ and _Abby’s room of sorcery and witchcraft_.

She kicks the door behind her, a flood of tears threatening to overtake her as she looks around the room. It’s exactly what she wishes her room at home, in Mystic Falls, could look like. From the cobweb shaped wrought-iron bedposts to the thick, plush orange rug that smells like sweet potato pie with every step you take, it feels like home to Bonnie. She drops down on the bed wearily, and closes her eyes. But instead of falling asleep immediately, she thinks of her grandmother.

She knows that they have more pressing things to deal with, than unraveling more family history that has been kept from her. But she can't help but feel betrayed by everything she's learned. Her grandmother had always been someone that Bonnie thought was kind, tolerant, and good. She was an enthusiastic and wonderful teacher to not only her, but Caroline and Elena. She was comforting the first time Caroline almost killed someone when she fed; she was loving when helping Elena discover more about her lineage. As much as she sniped at Dad, she always encouraged Bonnie to forgive him and be patient. 

How could that Grams have so coldly - proudly, almost - admitted to locking someone away? 

Her thoughts turn to Kai, and her stomach churned slightly. 

The truth is, she has no idea what to think of him now. She knows her grandmother isn't lying; she doesn't believe that having a shitty childhood gives you free reign to do whatever the fuck you want. And yet... she doesn't focus on him as a warlock who has destroyed Halloweentown, stolen her grandmother’s grimoire, and apparently killed his twin. In her mind she sees the young man who sat on her bed and told her she was special. 

Her face heats up, as she inadvertently thinks about him. His flashing blue eyes, the electric sparks when he touched her, his lips biting at hers.

Bonnie groans, wishing she wasn’t such a fucking cliché.

 

+++

 

Bonnie dreams of him, because of course she does.

_She’s standing in a small room. The walls are painted baby blue, but there are runes and alphabets in different languages gouged in, like someone took a knife and carved them painstakenly. There’s a twin bed and a closet, but not much else. A stack of books is neatly piled on the floor, with a pair of leather gloves and a compass tossed on top. The room must be on the second floor of a house, because when she glances out the window, all she sees are the feathered leaves of a weeping willow tree._

_Kai is laying on the bed, hands behind his head. He’s whistling something; it’s a tune that sounds so familiar to Bonnie, but she can’t quite place it. She moves from the window to the bed, laying down next to him. He smirks at her, but doesn’t bother to move over. Half of her body ends up on top of his. A leg thrown over his thigh, head pillowed by his bicep. It's a dream, she reminds herself. She can do whatever the fuck she wants, free from being pissed at him and trying to figure out his plans._

_“Fancy seeing you here,” he says. “I had no idea you knew about dream manipulation.”_

_Bonnie rolls onto her side, nose inches from Kai’s cheek. She doesn't quite trust any of this. “Is that what this is?”_

_He shrugs. “Well, this is my dream, and here you are.”_

_“I thought this was something only vampires could do?”_

_Kai giggles. “Maybe it’s hereditary.”_

_Bonnie furrows her brow, unsure of what to make of that. “I don’t know how I did this.”_

_He hums. “Maybe your magic missed me.”_

_“Caroline can do it, but only if she’s touching someone.” Bonnie rolls onto her back again. “You didn’t sneak into my Grams’s house and climb into bed with me, did you?”_

_He snorts. “When I do that, it’ll be because you invited me in, first.”_

_The comment makes her burn. She closes her eyes and doesn’t respond._

_She feels Kai shift, turning onto his side to face her. His hand slowly lifts her shirt, exposing her stomach. She takes a steadying breath, and then his fingertips are on her. They’re drawing runes on her skin. Some she knows, some she can only half-heartedly guess at. With every swipe, another electric jolt passes between them. She shifts, squeezing her thighs together. She wonders if the sparks are from him being a siphoner, or from him being so damn attractive._

_“I learned what a siphoner is," she says. "Does it hurt the other person, when you take their magic?”_

_His movements don’t still. “Probably.”_

_“You don’t care?”_

_“No.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Because no one’s ever asked me if it hurts me to siphon.” He hums. “Also, because I’m a sociopath.”_

_“Are you really?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Is that why you killed your sister?”_

_“No. I was trying a new spell. A different way to siphon magic.”_

_She opens her eyes. “Was it an accident?”_

_He snorts. “Killing her?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_”No. I did that on purpose.”_

_He’s still drawing invisible symbols over her. She thinks about shifting away, but she doesn’t. She likes being in this space. Even if it is dream manipulation, there's something so unreal about the situation. She's speaking candidly and relaxing into his touch because she can. Because here, there really aren't any consequences._

_She looks at the ceiling. It’s covered in glow-in-the-dark stickers, the kind she would have begged her father to buy when she was a kid. She had no idea they would have something like that in Halloweentown._

_“If you could’ve gotten Grams’s grimoire at any time, why did you bother to pretend? With me?”_

_“I didn’t pretend with you.”_

_She rolls her eyes. “Kai.”_

_He laughs; his breath is hot on her cheek. “Revenge, maybe. A challenge, probably.”_

_“You wanted to get back at Grams through me?”_

_“I thought about it,” he says. “Thought about killing you.”_

_It should scare her; it doesn't. “But fucking with my head became too much fun?”_

_“No. Hanging out with you became too much fun.”_

_She snorts. “Sure.”_

_“This might surprise you, but I actually like you, Bonnie Bennett,” he says._

_She asks, “Is that why you kissed me?”_

_“I kissed you because I wanted to,” he responds. “And it seemed like you wanted me to as well.”_

_“Do you always do what you want?”_

_“Most of the time.”_

_“I wonder what that’s like,” she says._

_His finger circles her belly button, and then jabs at it. “Give it a whirl sometime.”_

_She slaps at his hand, and then pushes at his shoulder until he’s on his back again. He watches her with half-lidded eyes, but keeps his hands to himself. Bonnie looks at him for a moment, and then leans up. She throws one leg over his, moving to straddle him. Her hands press into his chest as she adjusts herself on top of him. He still doesn’t move, just tilts his head up to look at her. Her hands slide down his chest, towards the hem of his shirt. She bunches it up, moving it over his abs, inch by inch. As she does, her fingers trace over too many scars to count. Old lacerations, burn marks, discoloration. She frowns down at them._

_“You know, whenever I dream of my childhood room, it’s mostly of being beaten by Joshua,” he informs her cheerfully. “Sometimes it’s other Geminis, experimenting on me.”_

_“Experimenting?”_

_“Trying out spells to turn me into a regular warlock,” he informs her._

_It’s only then that his arms lift. His hands move to her waist, gripping her tightly. Fingers crawl under her shirt. This time, the electricity from bare skin on bare skin feels like a warning._

_She ignores it in favor of leaning down to press her lips against his._

_When her lips part his, his hands run up her back, pulling her closer to him. When she swipes her tongue inside of his mouth, he presses his nails into her skin. When she presses her hips down, he pushes back up, grinding against her._

_His lips and teeth slide down her neck, biting at the spot just below her jaw. She lets out a breathy sigh, closing her eyes and squeezing her thighs tighter around him._

_“Aren’t you worried that your revenge is just going to prove them right?” she asks._

_He sucks, hard, and then counters, “Do you want to be a witch because it’s what you are, because it’s what your grandmother wants you to be, or because it’s what your father has denied you?”_

 

+++

 

“Bonnie, we have to find my grimoire!” Grams yells.

Bonnie startles awake by Grams shaking her shoulder. She yelps, raising her hands, magic sparking at her fingertips. She’s so tired that she’s sure that she’s only been asleep for a few minutes. She rubs the sleep from her eyes, not caring that she’s probably smearing mascara all over her face. The dream slowly drains from her mind as she focuses on her grandmother.

“Kai has your grimoire, Grams,” she says, voice dry.

“I know that,” Grams says. “I mean my other grimoire.”

Bonnie sits up unsteadily. “Your other grimoire?”

Grams nods. “I have two, you see. A matched set. With all the hullabaloo and stress, I’d forgotten all about my other one.”

“You have two grimoires?” Bonnie feels too tired to fully keep up with the conversation.

“Yes, dear. My spare. I never use it, but it must be around this house somewhere.”

“And if we find it, then we can find the Gray Spell and undo it,” Bonnie nods, energy suddenly flaring through her body. “And then we can… figure out what to do with Kai.”

Grams claps her hands together. “So, dear. What are we waiting for?”

Bonnie clambers out of the bed. Her thigh muscles clench in protest, and she feels slightly wet between her legs. She frowns, trying to clear her head. She can barely remember what she was dreaming about, beyond sharp teeth and ancient runes.

As she passes by Abby’s old wardrobe, she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her hair is a nothing but a tangle, since she didn’t bother to wrap her hair before passing out. Her makeup is faded and messy, a streak of black below her eye. And there, right under her jaw, is a slight discoloration, like a bruise.

 

+++

 

By the time the two of them are finished ransacking Grams’s house, Bonnie is more exhausted than when she went to sleep. She and Grams tried everything, from a locating spell to overturning the bed in the guest room. The second grimoire was nowhere to be found.

Bonnie plops down on the floor of the living room, a bunch of old parchment crumpling under her butt. Stefan, sitting with his back ramrod straight in an overstuffed reclining chair, looks at her in dismay. Grams stands in the middle of the room, hands on her hips. Her hair is a mess and she’s missing one earring. A stack of ancient books threatens to topple over onto her feet at any moment.

Bonnie sighs and wipes the sweat off of the back of her neck, and winces at the sting. She pulls her hand back, looking down at it. She forgot about the small cuts dotting her palm, from where Kai’s rose bit into her skin. The salt of her sweat irritates the cut. She wipes it on her shirt, accidentally knocking her elbow into jewelry box. Bonnie looks down as rings spell out. She picks one up. Magic hums through it, reaching out to her. The stone is huge in a silver setting; it reminds Bonnie of Caroline’s daylight ring.

“We can’t find it,” Grams says, deflated.

Bonnie takes a deep breath. “We can’t just give up, Grams. It’s gotta be somewhere, right? Maybe someplace we haven’t thought of?”

Grams shakes her head. “There’s no other place I would have left it. And without that grimoire...”

“Halloweentown’s gonna be Gray forever,” Stefan says.

Bonnie turns to glare at him. “You don’t have to sound so happy about it!”

He shrugs back at her, and adjusts the watch on his hand. His flippant attitude, mixed with her lack of sleep and own despair, causes her anger to spike. She glares at him, feeling her face get hot. She knows that it’s not his fault when he’s in this Gray state. But she can’t help but think about Stefan the vampire, her friend and ally. How helpful he had been, the first time they fought a Parker. The tight string inside her stretches and snaps.

“You know, you could’ve actually helped us instead of just sitting on your ass!” she hisses.

“Bonnie!” Grams says.

It takes Bonnie a few moments to realize that the parchment below her is smoking. One of the papers sparks and catches on fire. Stefan squeaks and jumps up, asking if anyone has an extinguisher. Embarrassed, Bonnie snaps her fingers at the flames. They disappear immediately, leaving a smoldering pile around her.

“Oops?” Bonnie says.

Grams sighs. “That was just a love letter from Jack.”

“Jack?” Bonnie raises her eyebrows.

“Oh, you know, the original Ripper,” Grams says. “Oh, he was such a charmer when he wanted to be-”

“Grams!” Bonnie closes her eyes for a minute, not ashamed that she’s glad the parchment is nothing but ash now.

Grams sighs and pushes her hair of of her face. “In any case, the grimoire is not here and without it…”

Bonnie looks away from her guilt gnawing her stomach. “Grams...”

Grams sighs, and Bonnie takes a deep breath. Her magix hums beneath her fingers, and she thinks of her ancestors. Would they have given up? Had they ever given up?

She knows the answer is no.

“Come on, Grams, let’s think,” she says. “There must be something to get us out of this trap, a sp-”

There’s a loud _pop_ , and Bonnie almost falls over in surprise. Grams already has her hands up, electricity webbing between her fingers in a defensive stance. Bonnie twists, trying to jump up. The ring falls from her hand and she puts her palms up defensively.  She catches a glimpse of Stefan, and her mouth drops open. Grams’s eyes widen, and she lowers her hands, the static extinguished.

“Stefan?” Bonnie says.

“Bonnie?” Stefan asks, bewildered.

He slowly gets out of the armchair, looking every bit like his old self. His hair is slicked back and his daylight ring is back on his finger, the jewel glittering in the sunlight coming in through the window. He shifts, and then for a moment, his face vamps out. Bonnie laughs, exhilarated, as she looks at his dark eyes, elongated canines, and veined face. He laughs as well, patting down his rib cages and thighs, like he can’t quite believe what’s happened.

“I’m - I’m a vampire again!” he says, grinning at the two of them.

Grams hugs him tightly. “Stefan Salvatore, it is great to see you again, honey.”

“Great to be back, Sheila,” Stefan grins.

“Did something break the spell?” Bonnie asks.

“It must have,” Grams says.

Bonnie asks, “What happened? Did you say something?”

Grams frowns. “Not that I’m aware of.”

“Well, something happened, because I’m not Gray anymore,” Stefan says.

“I suppose… the spell could be temporary...” Grams frowns, looking him over. “Perhaps we can wait it out?”

Bonnie shakes her head. “But Grams, if it takes too long, midnight will pass. And the portal…”

Grams nods, face grave. “No, you’re right. We have to keep looking for my grimoire.”

Stefan rocks back on his heels. “I just watched you two tear this house apart. And, sorry for not helping, by the way, but, if you haven’t found it yet...”

Grams begins to smile. “Perhaps it’s lost.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Stefan grins, his teeth sharp.

Understanding dawns on Bonnie. “If it’s lost… then we know exactly where it is, don’t we?”

Grams points at Stefan. “Would you be so kind as to take us to the boarding house?”

 

+++

 

On the trip to the Salvatore boarding house, the head phone starts chattering.

“What is that?” Stefan looks interested, disgusted, and delighted as he glances through the rearview mirror.

“It’s a head phone!” Grams says, sounding proud. “I designed it myself, and -”

Bonnie lifts the skull up to her lips. “Hello?”

Elena’s voice comes through the mouthpiece. “Bonnie?”

“Elena!”

“And Caroline too,” Caroline says.

“Guys...” Bonnie sighs. “Grams was right, it was Kai. He’s - he’s Joshua Parker’s son. He’s a special kind of warlock, something called a siphoner. He stole her grimoire and put the spell on Halloweentown.”

Elena’s voice is small. “I’m so sorry, Bonnie. I know you really liked him-”

“I knew there was something slimey about-” Caroline starts.

"Do you know why he did this?" Elena cuts in. 

Bonnie glances at the back of Grams’s head. “It’s a long story, but revenge.”

Elena sighs. “Just like Joshua.”

“We found some stuff too,” Caroline says. “And it’s not good.”

Bonnie swallows. “What is it?”

“Well, I couldn’t sniff out anything at his house,” Caroline says. “It was really as if a couple of humans lived there. I don’t know how he hid his scent but...”

“So I distracted Jo while Caroline snooped,” Elena says. “And… okay, there’s no easy way to say this, but I think Jo is actually a zombie.”

“A zombie?”

Elena hesitates. “Well… when we first met, I knew there was something off about her. And then I was looking through the storybook your Grams gave you, and it matches up. I think she’s this special kind, called a talker?”

Caroline cuts in. “The book says that ‘talkers are zombies that can speak and perform very simple acts.  Historically, witches and warlocks summon the dead back to half-life and use them as servants They have no will of their own and do whatever their creators tell them.’”

Bonnie’s mind blanks for moment as she thinks about her conversation with Grams. _They had twins - Malachai and Josette… He figured out a spell to siphon all of her magic, similar to The Merge. Doing so killed her._

Josette.

Jo.

“Jesus,” Bonnie swears.

“Yeah,” Elena says. “And there’s more.”

“What?”

“She kept talking about how important the dance was to Kai, how she volunteered to be a chaperon and is excited to, and I quote, ‘have all the humans’ in one place,” Elena says. “She said she was going to help Kai bring over ‘more exciting costumes.’”

“What?” Bonnie frowns.

Caroline says, “And I’m pretty sure I found the costumes. They’re all these… hideous and scary creature masks. Like truly terrifying. And I drink blood to survive.”

“We think that the masks have to be part of a bigger plan,” Elena says.

“A bigger plan...” Bonnie whispers.

“I don’t know what, but it’s gonna happen at the dance,” Elena says.

Bonnie’s eyes meet Grams’s in the rearview mirror. Grams’s face is drawn tightly, worry and anger flashing in her eyes. Stefan chokes slightly, and then presses down on the gas hard. Over the head phone, Elena is muttering that she’s sorry and Caroline is cursing.

“Were you able to get in contact with Lucy?” Bonnie asks.

Elena responds, “Not yet.”

"She always comes to the mortal world on Halloween," Bonnie says. "She has to be somewhere close by."

Grams speaks up. “Elena, go into my room and try to use my crystal ball. You should be able to find her that way.”

“But she’s not a witch,” Caroline says, confused.

Bonnie is the one who responds. “But she is a doppelgänger, which makes her a descendant… slash clone, I guess... of some of the first witches.”

Grams nods. “So if any creature should be able to use the crystal ball, it’s Elena.”

“Okay,” Elena says. “Got it.”

“And we’re trying to find another copy of Grams’s grimoire,” Bonnie says. “Don’t give up hope yet. We’ll fix everything Kai is planning.”

“Hurry, Bonnie,” Caroline says. “I know time is different there, but there’s only about two hours left until midnight on our end.”

 

+++

 

“So the Gray Spell hit the boardinghouse too,” Bonnie frowns as she steps out of the car.

The front yard, which Bonnie had always seen as packed with antique statues, old artifacts and ancient furniture, is meticulously clean and junk free. As the walk up to the door, Stefan sighs as if he's just remembered something unpleasant. 

“Damon has been doing a lot of organinzing,” he says.

Bonnie barely recognizes the interior when they enter. Gone are the Victorian rugs and gothic furnishings. The heavy mahogany bookcases are empty except for two or three titles. The stained glass has been replaced with venetian blinds and the mix-matched furniture from across the centuries has turned into plain Ikea tables and chairs. A boring painting of a park hangs where Bonnie had once seen an Artemisia Gentileschi original.

“Oh my,” Grams says.

“This place looks terrible,” Bonnie says.

Grams squares her shoulders. “You still better prepare yourself, Bonnie. Spell or no spell, Damon Salvatore is still the meanest, sneakiest-”

“Drunkest,” Stefan mutters.

“-Inhabitant of Halloweentown,” Grams finishes.

Bonnie steps deeper into the room, and balks when she catches sight of Damon. He’s standing completely upright, donned in an ill-fitting grey suit. He’s holding a teacup in one hand, and Bonnie is willing to bet it’s filled with only tea. Even his eyes, usually a piercing blue, seem dull and mild. Bonnie watches as he flicks a speck of dust off of his arms. Her heart twitches painfully; this definitely isn’t the same vampire she'd met a year ago.

“Hello there,” he says, smiling pleasantly.

“Damon,” Bonnie blinks at him. “You’re looking… proper.”

“Is there something you need from me?” he asks.

Stefan rolls his eyes. “Damon, where’s Sheila’s grimoire?”

Damon blinks at him. “Grimoire?”

“It’s a spell book,” Grams says.

“Oh, I do have several books,” Damon nods thoughtfully. “They’re all on that shelf there.”

Bonnie glances at the mostly empty bookshelves. She doesn’t even have to read the titles to know that none of them are her grandmother’s grimoire. But the knot inside of her twists as she does. _Proper Dental Maintenance for Vampires. Dusting for Fun and Profit. 100 Recipes for Blood Pudding_. Her lips curl up into a sneer almost on her own, and she has to tamp down on her magic. She feels stupid and guilty, knowing that they’re only in this situation because of her. Because of her stupid attraction to Kai-

“You know, I don’t think whoever lost these are missing them much,” Stefan mutters, glancing over the titles.

“Damon,” Grams snaps her fingers. “These can’t be the only books in the house. Why, last time I was here, we had a grand old time looking over a first edition of the Karma Su-”

“Grams!” Bonnie overs her face with her hands.

“I sold the rest of them at a yard sale,” Damon interrupts.

“Yard sale?” Bonnie’s stomach drops.

Damon nods. “Why, yes. This place was so cluttered, so I only kept the most useful books.”

Stefan curses. “Damon, there was a particular book-”

“Of course, there are more books down in the cellar as well,” Damon says. “Oh, many old things that no one quite wanted to buy.”

Bonnie turns to Grams. “Maybe your grimoire is one of those books!”

Grams nods. “Damon, can you show us where those books are?”

Damon frowns. “I was going to re-arrange the cutlery-”

“Damon!” Stefan snarls, and his eyes turn black for a moment. “Take us to the books!”

Grams pats his hand, sounding delighted. “And there’s the Ripper I know and love.”

Bonnie rolls her eyes.

 

+++

 

The Salvatore’s cellar is damp, dark and creepy. Bonnie can’t tell if the Gray Spell hasn’t spread to it yet, or if this is just what all cellars in old houses are like. As they walk down the dimly lit hall, Bonnie swears that she can hear rats scurrying in the walls. They pass by an old blood-stained freezer, the handle rusted and breaking into pieces. Bonnie inadvertently thinks of Caroline’s own blood freezer in the basement of her house. It has magnetic poetry on it.

Damon leads them to a large back room, flicking on an old light switch. He makes a noise of discontent, and the light flashes a dim green. Bonnie waits as her eyes adjust before looking around. It looks like an underground greenhouse. Rows and rows of vervain and wolfsbane grow wildly, like they haven’t been tended to all season. Books and wooden crates are stacked all around the sides of the room. Towards the back, there’s an iron door with bars on the windows.

“I should tackle this room next,” Damon makes a tutting noise.

He walks around the plants towards a giant pot with Latin lettering on the side of it. He pulls out a pair of gardener’s gloves, hedge clippers, and an apron. Bonnie watches in disbelief as he put the apron on and slowly moves towards wolfsbane plants. He hunches over slightly and starts to methodically clip at some browning leaves.

Stefan raises his eyebrows. “Well, okay.”

Bonnie sighs, turns to the books. “Guess we better start going through these.”

 

+++

 

Among other things, they find a first edition Gutenberg Bible, a number of copies of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_ , and Stefan’s diary from the 1800s. They do not find Grams’s grimoire. Bonnie tosses Stefan’s diary at him and plants her hands on her hips.

“This is totally pointless!” she steams. “Where the hell could your second copy be, Grams?”

Grams lifts her hand up, running her fingers through her hair. “It was years and years since I’ve seen it, Bonnie-”

Bonnie’s eyes focus on Grams’s hand, and her blood runs cold. “Grams.”

“Hmm?”

“The Gray Spell.”

There’s a loud _pop_. Grams lowers her hand, tremors going through her arm. Her entire hand is Gray, and it’s slowly spreading past her elbow and up to her shoulder.

“It must be affecting me now that we’re in Halloweentown,” Grams says faintly.

“But your house, the ancestors...” Bonnie trails off. “Is the spell really that powerful that we’re not protected?”

“It must be,” Grams sighs. “We really don’t have time to waste, now, especially if it starts to affect you as well.”

Bonnie’s stomach churns. “We have to get out of here, find another way out of Halloweentown.”

Stefan goes to the door, and tries to open it. It moans under his grasp, but doesn’t budge at all. He frowns, throwing all of his strength against it. Nothing happens.

“It’s not opening,” Stefan frowns.

“This is just fucking great,” Bonnie steams. “Grams is turning Gray and we’re trapped in a cellar!”

“This must be Malachai’s doing,” Grams wheezes. “He must’ve known I had a second copy of my grimoire, and set this as a trap.”

Bonnie feels her anger flaring up in her chest, and it takes all of her willpower not to start burning all of the plants inside of the room. Instead, she takes a deep breath and throws an unlocking spell at the door. Stefan tries it again. Still nothing. Bonnie growls in distress, and tells Stefan to move out of the way. She tries all of the spells she knows - another unlocking spell, a fire spell, and a splintering wood spell.  

Nothing works; the door stays tightly locked and closed.

“Sheila, is there anything you can do?” Stefan asks.

But Grams has already started collapsing, leaning heavily on one of the vervain beds. The Grayness has spread from her arms to her neck, running down her torso and towards her face. Bonnie feels her eyes fill up with hot, bitter tears. She wipes them away furiously, trying to think of something, anything that she can do.

“Oh dear,” Grams says. “No. No, I can’t.”

The head phone starts chattering inside Bonnie’s robes, nipping her in the ribs. She grits her teeth and pulls it out. She’s about to snap when a raspy, familiar voice comes through the skull.

“I hear you’ve gotten yourself into some big mess, cuz,” Lucy says.

“Lucy,” Bonnie almost cries with relief.

“I was already on my way to Mystic Falls when I heard a distress signal from Grams’s crystal ball-”

Elena’s voice comes through. “I had no idea you could communicate through a crystal ball, too, but-”

“-And I felt something wrong, but I had no idea it would be this bad,” Lucy says. “Elena and Caroline filled me in on everything.”

“Do you have anything in your grimoire that can help, Lucy?” Bonnie asks desperately.

A sigh. “No, I don’t think so.”

Caroline says, “But we’ve been pouring through it trying to find something, anything Bonnie.”

Bonnie curses. “We can’t find Grams’s grimoire either. And now we’re trapped in the Salvatore’s cellar.”

“What?” Caroline shrieks.

“Are you okay?” Elena asks.

Bonnie closes her eyes briefly. “Grams is turning Gray.”

Lucy curses. “Shit.”

“I know.”

“I tried opening the portal, but nothing happened,” Luc says. “I think Malachai has figured out a spell to lock the door from both sides.”

Elena sounds dismayed. “I don’t understand how he could do that, on Halloween. The one night the portal is supposed to be open...”

Bonnie sighs. “But the portal wasn’t always there.”

She thinks back to last year, when Grams was telling her more about the history of Halloweentown and why Abby left in the first place. Grams’s voice echoes in her head - _Our ancestor, Beatrice, was a powerful witch who created the first portal. Halloweentown and Mystic Falls weren’t always meant to be linked. But she saw the good in humans, something that must’ve been passed on to Abby._

Bonnie continues. “He must have figured out the spell that made it in the first place, and like… changed it, or something...”

“I hate to tell you this, Bonnie, but I have more bad news,” Lucy says. “I think I recognize the spell, from studying with Grams decades ago. And...”

“And?”

Lucy’s tone is grim. “There’s another side to the Gray Spell.”

Bonnie’s heart stutters. “Another side?”

“It’s called the Creature Spell. It was banned after the Dark Times. But it was used on humans who used to mock us,” Lucy says.

“Used...how?”

Bonnie almost jumps when Stefan answers. He wanders towards her, mouth in a thin line.

“Witches and warlocks used to cast it on humans who dressed up as creatures. It would turn them into the very supernatural beings they were making fun of. But it was… it made them violent, preying on the basic instincts of the creature they had turned into.”

Elena says, “He turned the creatures into humans, and now he’s gonna turn the humans into creatures.”

“That’s why Jo is bringing all those masks to the dance, Bon,” Caroline adds. “He must be planning to use the Creature Spell on Mystic Falls tonight.”

Bonnie clenches her fist, trying to let the magic rage out of her. A flame shoots, zapping the stone floor beneath her feet. All of the sympathy that she had stored for Kai, deep in her heart, feels like it's leaking out. She tries to hold onto her empathy, knowing that it's part of what makes her her, part of what makes her good. But the more she learns, the harder it is to feel good. 

“Why the fuck is he doing this?” she says through clenched teeth. “First Halloweentown, now Mystic Falls? What the fuck kinda revenge…?”

“Does it really matter why, right now?” Elena asks. “We have to stop him!”

“Yeah, okay,” Bonnie says, taking a breath. “But I can’t do anything right now! We’re still trapped in the cellar! And Grams...”

She looks at her grandmother, who is now completely Gray. She’s donned an old straw hat and is holding a garbage bag. She’s puttering behind Damon, catching all of the wolfsbane clippings that he slowly cuts off. There’s a golden brooch shaped like an egg on her plain, A-line dress.

“Grams is no help,” Bonnie finishes softly.

“Okay, so you’re stuck,” Lucy says. “You’re just going to have to figure out a stronger spell than the one that’s keeping you there.”

“But isn’t the only way to break a spell to say the original one backwards?” Stefan asks.

“Rules are rules,” Damon says in the background.

Bonnie shakes her head. “No, Lucy is right. Because… rules always have exceptions. Like… how hackers get into computer programs.”

Caroline pipes in. “They just have to look for the back door!”

“There’s no back door in here,” Stefan says, jerking his thumb behind himself. “That leads to a cell. We used to keep prisoners down here-”

“Not literally, Stefan,” Bonnie rolls her eyes. “Back doors meaning ways of getting into something if there’s a problem and you can’t get through it the regular way.”

“So… weaseling out of the spell without actually breaking it,” Stefan stays.

“Exactly,” Lucy says.

Bonnie taps the head phone against her chin. “Okay, so this spell. What’s the parameters?”

“It keeps us from getting outside,” Stefan says.

“So...” Bonnie licks her lips. “So, what if we tried to go somewhere else other than outside?”

Elena sounds confused. “There’s nowhere else, Bons. There’s only outside and inside.”

“And right now, we’re inside,” Stefan says.

Bonnie grins. “Time travel.”

It’s silent for a few moments, and then Caroline starts laughing. The cackling skull vibrates against Bonnie’s jaw. Stefan is looking at her with a proud and impressed look on his face.

“You’re a fucking genius,” Caroline says.

“Lucy, do you have a spell for that?”

There's silence on the other end. “Yes. But…”

“But?”

“It's dangerous, Bonnie,” Lucy says. “Not to mention it's too advanced for you. Hell, it’s too advanced for me.”

Elena says, “Bonnie can do anything.”

“That's really sweet, and naive-” Lucy starts to say.

“No, it's true! If she can bring down Joshua Parker, she can do this,” Caroline says.

Bonnie sets her jaw. “Just tell me what I need to do, Lucy.”

“Bonnie, this could kill you-”

“I don't care!” Bonnie says. “I have to try. This isn't only about me. It's about saving innocent lives, Luce. And if there's a chance that I can do something, then I need to.”

Lucy is silent for a moment and then sighs. “Okay, okay, Bonnie. Listen carefully.”

“I'm all ears.”

“The parameters of this spell are very clear and very restrictive. You can only travel backwards and you can only travel in someone's timeline. This means that you can't go anywhere that person hasn't gone.”

“I don't think that'll be a problem, seeing as how she can't escape the room,” Elena says.

“Do you think the restrictions will still be in place if it's a different time though?” Caroline asks.

Bonnie sneers, and it's personal when she says, “Probably. Kai seems tricky like that.”

Lucy continues. “The spell requires you to have a sacred circle, blood of an immortal, and two different generations of the same family present.”

Bonnie glances around the room. There doesn’t seem to be any speller’s chalk, and she hadn’t found anything to write with in any of the crates. She frowns, eyeing the bag in Grams’s hand. It's unorthodox, but she knows that sometimes intent is way more important than materials when it comes to spells. She just hopes that this won't backfire, which can also happen. 

“I guess I can make my circle out of wolfsbane clippings,” Bonnie says.

“And you've got as much of my blood as you need,” Stefan says.

“You and Sheila for the two generations,” Elena adds.

Lucy hesitates. “The final thing it requires is… the lungs of the person whose timeline you're going in.”

“That's easy,” Stefan says. “Use mine. They’ll just grow-”

Lucy interrupts him. “Not creature. Person. Meaning human.”

Bonnie stares at Stefan, horrified. The grin slips off his face. Nothing comes over the line but slow breathing. She and Stefan stare at each other for a few moments.

“Bon?” Caroline says softly.

“I…” Bonnie clenches her hands into fists. “I see. So we can't do the spell.”

“Not with two witches and two vampires, no,” Elena says softly.

Stefan takes a deep breath. “But we're not two witches and two vampires now, are we?”

Bonnie grits her teeth. “Stefan-”

“Sheila and Damon are both mortals, now, because of the Gray Spell,” Stefan says.

“Stefan-”

“We can't take Sheila’s, because we need her alive for the spell,” Stefan says. “I assume.”

“Yes,” Lucy says.

“So.” Stefan’s breath hitches. “It has to be Damon.”

Bonnie doesn't hesitate. “Absolutely not.”

“Bonnie-”

Bonnie gestures towards Damon, still painstakingly cutting wolfsbane. “He can't even consent to this. Look at him! And even if he could, I'm not - I'm not killing someone to complete a spell-”

Caroline’s voice is soft. “But if you do this, and you find Sheila’s grimoire… then by the time you get back to now, you can undo the Gray Spell. You can turn Damon back into a vampire-”

“An since its time travel, only a few moments will have passed when you get back,“ Stefan says. “You're not killing anyone.”

“No!”

The hair on the back of Bonnie’s neck raise with electricity as she tries to contain her emotions.

“Bonnie-”

“It's too risky. I might not even find the grimoire. And if I do, I don't even know if I'll be able to find my way back to the future! I can't risk Damon-”

“But you can risk yourself?” Lucy bites out. “This isn't just about one creature, Bonnie. It's for all of us. Isn't that what you just said?”

“It's different when it's someone else's life-”

Stefan cuts her off, voice hard. “Damon. I'm going to kill you so Bonnie can complete her spell. But you'll come right back to life. Is that okay?”

Damon blinks at them. “Well. I suppose so.”

Bonnie stares at Stefan’s raised eyebrows. The head phone in her head is silent, not even their breathing coming through the line. She turns to look at Damon, gardening shears in his hand. He looks at the wolfsbane plant for every angle before determinedly clipping up one dead leaf on it. Bonnie tilts her head back.

Everything about this just feels wrong, too wrong. For a moment, she wonders if this is another trap that Kai has placed her in, forcing her hand to make her kill someone to cast a spell. Isn’t that exactly what he had done, to his sister? Killed her just so he could use magic? In the moment, she can’t really see a difference between what he had done and what she is about to do.

Rather than make her feel guiltier about her own actions, it makes her feel more sympathetic to his. And that, that is what makes her feel sick to her stomach.

“Fine,” Bonnie says, closing her eyes for just a moment. “Fine.”

Lucy says, “Stefan, Bonnie is not going to be able to take both of you. That would definitely be too much of a drain on her power. Are you going to be able to control yourself around Damon’s blood?”

Bonnie opens her eyes to see Stefan staring at her. For a moment, she sees the Ripper flicker in his eyes.

“Bonnie will be back before she’s even gone,” he says, eyeing her. “It’ll be fine.”

 

+++

 

She sets up the sacred circle in silence, ignoring Damon’s frustrated moans about having to sweep the floor up immediately. In her mind, she practices the spell words over and over until she can say them without stumbling. Stefan moves Grams into position, and then tears into his own wrist with his sharp fangs. He drains his dark blood into a shining goblet, rubies and emeralds pressed into the sides. For a moment, curiosity bubbles up in Bonnie. She wants to ask which monarch this cup used to belong to, and if it ended up at the boarding house because it got lost or because Stefan ate them.

“Once the initial spell is cast, you can go back as many times as you need, saying the words. Just don’t overshoot it when you do.” Lucy advises. “The further back in time you go, the more energy you expend.”

“Okay, great,” Bonnie breathes out. “So try not to go back to when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Got it.”

“I’m not that old,” Damon huffs.

It sounds so much like his old self that Bonnie starts chuckling. But then Stefan shuffles Damon towards the sacred circle as well, and the laughter dies in her throat. Bonnie leaves the head phone on one of the tables. It chatters gently with Caroline and Elena’s encouragements.

Bonnie carefully pours Stefan’s blood within the confines of the circle, filling in the blank spaces on the stone floor. She steps carefully into the center, trying not to rustle any leaves or disturb the blood. Behind her, Grams sits knitting; Bonnie has no idea where the needles or yarn have come from. Damon stands directly in front of her, slightly outside of the circle. He stares at her baldly. Stefan hunches slightly behind his brother, hands ready.

“As soon as I finish the chant,” Bonnie says, nodding at Stefan.

He nods back. “When you get there… just explain everything. Say Stefan sent you.”

Bonnie lifts her hands up, taking a deep breath. As she begins to chant the ancient words, she keeps her eyes on Damon the entire time. Her magic buzzes around her, eager for a release. She can feel her energy draining slowly, and a small drop of blood lands from her nose onto her top lip. She plants her feet firmly, and then nods at Stefan.

It happens so quickly that she barely sees what happens. One moment, Damon is standing upright in front of her. The next, he’s collapsing onto the floor. Stefan is completely vamped out, and has Damon’s lungs in his hands. He tosses them onto the sacred circle just as Bonnie finishes saying the last word of the spell.

The entire world goes dark.

 

+++

 

When Bonnie comes to, she’s leaning against an old marble statue that appears to be carved into the shape of a giant turkey. She mumbles, pushing herself upright. Wiping the blood from her nose, she glances around, trying to figure out when exactly she is. The room is even more disorganized than it is in the future. The tables of vervain and wolfsbane still grow wildly, but there are so many artifacts and weapons piled to the brim that Bonnie can barely see anything. The lighting is extremely dim, but she can hear voices. It takes her a moment to realize they’re coming from the other side of the room, near the cell door.

“Thank you again for allowing us to store Malachai in your… facility,” a deep, male voice says.

Bonnie has to clap her hand over her mouth to keep from gasping. She recognizes that voice.

Joshua Parker.

Slowly, she peeks around the statue and over a canon to glance towards the back of the room. There he is, standing in front of the door. Even with his back turned to Bonnie, she can tell that he’s much younger than when she faced him last year. What surprises her is whom he’s standing talking to: Damon and Grams.

“Eh, I wouldn’t rate it four stars but it sure is better than the Gremlin Inn,” Kai’s voice floats out from behind the door.

Joshua raises his hand. Bonnie sees a bolt of blue-green light fly through the barred window. Then, Kai let’s out a whimper, before the room falls silent. Bonnie waits for Grams to say something, anything; but she just stares at Joshua impassively. Bonnie raises her hand to her mouth and bites down on the palm of her hand to keep herself from getting upset.

“Well, hurry up and finish your little witchy spell, cause I got better things to be storing in there,” Damon jerks his head towards the cell.

Joshua bristles. “I already told you, you’ll be handsomely rewarded-”

Damon gestures to the room, looking incredulous. “Please, Parker. I got all the crap I could ever ask for.”

“If I may?” Kai speaks again. “I really don’t think that what you’re doing is fair. So, I killed Jo. Yes, that’s bad. But is it any worse than forcing your children to Merge, Dad?”

Joshua’s back stiffens. ”I don’t know what you’re talking about, but-”

“She would’ve died anyway, in our little ceremony,” Kai continues. “Just like your brother died in yours. Or does everyone forget how you became leader of the Geminis?”

“The Merge is outlawed,” Grams says calmly. “Archaic rituals like that are-”

“Don’t act stupid, Sheila,” Kai says. “Just because we’ve all been banished to Halloweentown doesn’t mean holdovers from the Dark Times don’t bind us.”

“Kid, you talk too damn much,” Damon shakes his head.

“Thank you.”

Joshua growls. “I should’ve gotten rid of you when you were a child, Malachai. But I spared you, for your mother’s sake. I should’ve known that you would bring nothing but destruction to the Coven.”

“And by gotten rid of, you mean kill?” Kai asks, tone eerily cheerful.

There’s no hesitation in Joshua’s voice. “Yes.”

There’s a shift in the air; Kai’s voice gets quiet. “I didn’t ask to be this way. But it’s who I am. I’m a siphoner. I can’t just not be.”

“You’re an abomination,” Joshua says. “And if you could just see things from my side, you would have begged for death-”

Bonnie’s heart twists, and her mouth feels too dry. The conversation hurts more than it should. It hits home hard, and she thinks of her father, of all their conversations. Everything that he’s said to her from since she discovered her magic up until this night. Her head throbs slightly; she can’t believe it was only a few hours ago that he told her _a witch doesn’t have to be who you are._ Her head pounds. For a moment, she wonders if she should even be trying to stop Kai's spell. Wonders what she would have done if she was in his place. She bites down on her hand harder. The pain is a reminder that it's not like Kai is doing anything good, to help others like him; he has decided to hurt so many people, including herself. 

“Enough,” Grams’s voice is clear. “We do not kill creatures. Damon, the spell is almost complete. Kai will be punished for his crimes and you will get your holding cell back.”

Bonnie can’t listen to any more of this. She takes a deep breath, and begins to chant the time travel spell, focusing only on her powers. Blood drips steadily out of her noise now, falling over her lips and the front of her shirt. 

“Wait, do you smell that?” Damon sounds incredulous. “There’s someone here with us-”

Bonnie is gone before he finishes his sentence.

 

+++

 

Bonnie opens her eyes to see Damon peering down at her.

“I thought I smelled Bennett blood,” he says, grinning sharply.

Before he can move, she lifts her hands up to give him a brain aneurysm. He stumbles backwards, clutching at his hair and cursing at her. She only stops once he is a few feet away. Blood flows freely from her nose, now. She rips off a strip of the bottom of her shirt and wads it up, stuffing it into her nostril.

Bonnie glances around as Damon writhes on the floor, too tired to say anything for the moment. She’s surprised to see that the cellar is almost empty. Besides her and Damon, there are only two things in the room. A giant pile of socks, which she assumes are all missing the other pair, and an old, wooden guillotine. There are brown blood stains on the blade. She wonders when the Salvatores decided to start growing poisonous plants in their basement for fun and profit. 

“Fair enough, witchy,” Damon says, moving into a reclining position. “But do that again, and I have you for an almost-midnight snack.”

Bonnie rolls her eyes. “What year is it?”

“1945,” he answers. “My turn. What are you doing in my house?”

Bonnie’s head pounds. She pulls her knees up, and rests her forehead on them for a moment. Damon begins to sing ‘tick tock, tick tock’ at her, which does nothing to help the problem. She wonders how one vampire could be so infuriating for more than half a century, and if he’s always been this way. She thinks it’s no wonder Stefan is a Ripper. If she had to deal with having a sibling like Damon -

“And which Bennett are you, anyway?” he asks, voice much closer than before. “You smell like… human and Sheila’s daughter.”

Bonnie pops her head up too fast; she can feel the blood rush. “You know Abby?”

“That annoying brat?” Damon huffs. “Yeah, I know her. She tried to sell me some Ghoul Scout cookies for double the cost.”

Bonnie blinks at him for a moment. She knows that witches live extremely long lives, especially in Halloweentown. But if Abby was a child during World War II, exactly how much older was she than her father when they met? And why did she even go to Mystic Falls in the first place?

She knows she has more important things to focus on now. But the energy drain from using too much complicated magic is making her woozy. She can’t think clearly, and her brain flits from one idea to the next. Her giddy brain wonders if it’s weird that her parents’ age gap doesn’t bother her. Now that she focuses on it, she doesn’t even mind the age gap between her and Kai either. If he was eighteen in the 1990s, does that mean he’s forty years old? But does that change things when thinking of the time differences between Mystic Falls, Halloweentown, and his prison world?

She knows she probably shouldn’t be focused on this right now. Especially because he’s evil, she reminds herself.

Evil, yes. But what does that mean, anyway? It can't be so black and white. Grams trapped a teenager in a prison world, she reminds herself. Stefan is a ripper who has probably killed thousands of people. Damon is a drunk hoarder who probably like, compelled women to sleep with him. Aren't those things evil, too? And yet, she considers these creatures good. She considers herself good.

And anyway, how can someone be evil and a great kisser? A great fucking kisser, her mind supplies. Bonnie smiles dopily at her lap, thinking about him in Grams’s room, pressed against her on the desk….

“The desk! Fuck,” she blurts out. “He stole the grimoire. I gotta get the other copy.”

Damon raises an eyebrow. “You okay there, witchling?”

“Bonnie,” she responds. “That’s my name. Bonnie Bennett.”

“Okay, Bonnie Bennett,” he says, grinning. “Why are you in my house?”

“Ugh,” she tries to keep her eyes open. “Stefan sent me.”

There’s a quiet moment. Bonnie watches at Damon digs his hand around in his jeans pocket, and then pulls out a silver flask. As he opens it, the sharp smell of blood and bourbon makes Bonnie’s eyes water. He takes a long drink from it, and then levels his gaze at her.

His voice is hard. “Get out.”

“What?”

“I hate Stefan,” Damon says. “And him sending you doesn’t make you welcome here. In fact, it makes you less welcome here.”

“What?” Bonnie squints at him. “Stefan is your brother and you love him.”

“No I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“Listen, we could sit here and argue all day but I’m not gonna. You can leave or you can get eaten. Your pick.”

Bonnie groans. “I can’t leave. The spell...”

“What spell?”

“The Gray Spell. I have to...” she squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. “There’s something I need.”

“Oh, well, in that case, take a number,” he smiles at her. “Because I’m now serving… nobody!”

“Ugh,” Bonnie groans, putting her head back on her knees. “You’re the fucking worst, you know that?”

“Little girl, I don’t know who you are, or where in the Bennett line you fall, but I’m done playing games,” Damon says. “Now get out.”

Something in his voice makes Bonnie crack.

All of the weight of this entire night - days? Years? - Suddenly feels too heavy for her to bear. She can barely think, and her mouth is so dry, the entire world is spinning, all she wants to do is find Grams’s grimoire and get back to the fucking present. She knew, boy, did she know, that Damon might not be helpful, but this? This is worst than that. Her mind flashes back to her first night in Halloweentown, ever, when Grams had told her about how close the Bennetts have always been to the Salvatores. _Emily made Damon promise that he would always look out for our family._

“Jesus, Damon Salvatore, you’re a fucking piece of work, you know that?” Bonnie snaps. “If Emily could see you now, she’d probably light your ass on fire-”

She sees his shocked expression, and only half listens as he cuts her off with a grin. “Okay, okay, Judgey. You don’t have to invoke Emily’s name. I’ll help you-”

“-You sneaky, drunk, horrible excuse for a bloodsucker!” She’s breathing hard when she’s done.

“Ouch.” He tuts at her. “No need to use slurs, Bon Bon.”

She stares at him, at a lost for words. She sniffs, accidentally snorting a clot of blood and mucus. She considers spitting it out, but swallows instead. It's disgusting, and she immediately regrets her choice. Damon looks at her, with an unimpressed and superior look on his face. 

“You’re welcome,” he says sanctimoniously.

She’s too tired to laugh in his face. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing,” his tone is surprised. “So. What can I do for you?”

Bonnie struggles to keep her head up. “My Grams - uh, Shelia - she lost a copy of her grimoire. I’m not sure when, exactly. But it should be here, somewhere.”

"Grams, huh?" He nods at her. “Okay, time traveler. Let me see if I can find it.”

She can barely move. “I’ll just wait for you here.”

 

+++

 

She’s not sure how long he’s gone, but it’s enough time that she starts to fade in and out of consciousness. At one point, she’s on the floor, the side of her face aching from when she must have slumped over. Every time she wakes up, all she can smell is the blood-drenched rag in one nostril.

Whenever she’s conscious, she reminds herself that at the moment, time is irrelevant. As long as Damon can find the spell book, she has a chance of getting back to the future. A chance of saving Damon, Grams, all of the creatures, all of the humans, and maybe even Kai…

 

+++

 

She wakes up to strong, cold hands lifting her up and settling her against what feels like a brick wall. Her head droops slightly, but then the hands are back, cupping her chin and holding it upright. She feels a cold glass at her mouth, and then her lips are being nudged open.

“Okay, little witch, just drink this down, nice and slow,” a male voice says.

Bonnie does as she’s told, taking small sips of whatever’s in the cup. It takes tangy like copper, and it’s thick, like a smoothie. With every drink she takes, she feels infinitesimally better. The fog from her head begins to clear, and it no longer feels like she’s having a nosebleed. She holds her head up on her own but keeps her eyes closed. Raising her hands to the glass, she tips her neck back to drain every drop.

It’s only after she’s done that she opens her eyes, and almost shrieks in horror.

She’s sitting between Damon’s legs, her back pressed against his chest. As her eyes land on the glass, she almost drops it to the floor. It’s tinted dark red, and she knows that she’s just drank someone’s blood. Her initial reaction is to retch; but she clenches her jaw and tries to keep it down. She reminds herself that this is mostly supernatural. She never gets grossed out to see Caroline drinking from blood bags.

“Seems I was right to give you a glass and not my wrist,” Damon pats her on the top of her head.

Bonnie scoffs at him and scoots away, throwing a withering glare at him over her shoulder. She tells herself to say thank you, because she does feel a million times better. But the copper taste in her mouth makes her want to spit at him.

She settles for asking, “You just fed me your blood?”

He gives her a dirty look. “Don't look so disgusted, I bet it tastes delicious. You’re welcome, by the way. I thought you just needed some rest but when I came down here, you were halfway to dead.”

Bonnie wipes at the back of her mouth. “Thank you.”

“Let’s just say that now you owe me one life-saving favor,” he smirks at her.

Her stomach turns for an entirely different reason. “...I’ll return the favor. I promise.”

He looks at her for a moment, before shaking his head. “Nope. Do not want to know.”

She doesn’t know if she’s more grateful that she doesn’t have to explain what will happen or that she doesn’t have to watch his reaction to knowing he’s going to be turned into a human and die. She clears her throat.

“Thank you. Seriously,” she says.

“You’re welcome.” He nods, and then slides a heavy leather book across the floor. “Here. Sheila’s grimoire.”

Bonnie grabs at it greedily, sighing in relief and excitement. She flips open the grimoire. Focusing her magic into her palm, she places it onto the pages. She mutters the words to finding the spell she’s looking for, and then lifts her hand. She waits for a few moments, but the pages don’t turn.

“Anti-climatic, to be sure,” Damon says.

The sick feeling rises in Bonnie’s stomach again, and she frantically begins flipping through the book, looking for any key words - Gray Spell, Creature Spell, Human to Creature, Creatures into Humans. But nothing jumps out at her at all. The more she flips, the more hectic she becomes. Dread starts to settle over her as she notices that many of the spells that Grams had taught her, right out of this grimoire, are nowhere to be found in the pages either.

“Oh… oh no.” Bonnie whispers.

“Bons?”

She glances up. “What… do you remember when this grimoire showed up at your house?”

Damon squints. “Fifteenth, sixteenth century?”

Bonnie closes her eyes. “Fuck.”

“What is it?”

Bonnie lets out a sigh. “The spells I need. They’re not in here. Maybe Grams hadn’t written them into her grimoire yet, or this one isn’t connected to the other but… it’s not here. It’s not fucking here.”

She’s utterly heartbroken, and the words come flooding out of her mouth.

“So not only did I risk my own life and yours coming back in time, I have absolutely nothing to show for it! No spells and no way to get home! Everyone is going to be a boring gray blob or a ravaging monster and it’s going to be all my fault!” She slams her fist down, flames shooting out of her skin. “I failed, I fucking failed. I came all this way for nothing!”

She doesn’t even notice as the room begins to heat up. Damon shoots her a wary look. Everything in her is screaming at her to destroy, to fight and claw her way out, to not give up. To not give in. But tears leak from her eyes, and flames begin to form in the space around her, crawling and licking up the walls.

“I’m fucking useless! God, maybe Dad was right all along. I may be a Bennett, but that doesn’t make me a witch. It doesn’t make me anything,” she yells, squeezing her eyes shut. “Jesus, I-”

“Bonnie!” Damon yelps.

The sound of it is like a freezing wave crashing over her, and Bonnie opens her eyes. She gasps as she notices the entire room engulfed in flames. With a hurried wave of her hand, Bonnie clenches her teeth. The fire dies instantaneously, leaving behind nothing but scorch marks and the smell of burnt trees. She glances over to the guillotine, which is nothing more than ash piles, charred wood, and a rusty blade.

Damon is giving her an unimpressed look. “And Stefan used to say I needed to control my emotions better.”

Bonnie doesn’t bother to apologize.

“Look,” he says. “So, this musty old book doesn’t have the spell in it. So what?”

She glares at him. “So what? Damon-”

He waves his hand. “I’ve been around too many Bennetts to know that that can’t stop you. Your ancestor, Qetsiyah, practically created this world single-handedly. If she can do that, you can break one measly spell.”

Bonnie is already shaking her head. “Great pep talk, but it’s not going to work. I don’t even have the slightest clue about breaking this-”

He cuts her off. “Yeah, you do. You’ve seen what the spell can do. Just think about the parameters of it and work from there. All complex spells require sacred objects, fluids and words. Who does it affect and when? How?”

Bonnie bites her lip, tugging at the skin and biting it off. “I guess...”

“If you’re hemming and hawing cause you want me to give you a speech about your courage and dignity, you’re not getting one.” He takes another swig. “I’m just saying. Bennetts are clever. You know more than you think.”

Bonnie runs her fingertip around the rim of the bloody glass, flipping everything she knows about the Gray Spell in her mind. She tries to replay all the events that have happened since she first stepped foot in Halloweentown. She thinks about the speed in which the spell seemed to affect creatures - Tyler, Stefan, and Grams all became Gray very slowly. But when Stefan was cured of it… that happened extraordinarily fast.

She frowns. She had assumed that it was something Grams had done at first, hadn’t she? And then someone suggested maybe it was the spell wearing off. But what if… what if it was something she had said and done? Damon was right - spells were not just words but actions, and more importantly, intentions. When Stefan had turned back into a vampire, she had been so angry with him, so frustrated. All she had wanted was for him to be his old self again.

Bonnie hesitates. “Well…”

“Well?”

“There was a moment, when… I was with Stefan,” Bonnie says slowly, ignoring Damon’s glare, “And he was affected by the spell. But then I said something and… I must’ve broken it, accidently.”

“Well, just figure out what you did and go from there,” Damon tells her.

Bonnie squints. “But I can barely remember what I was doing! I think I was trying to get Grams to think of another way to break the spell, without her grimoire. I said… something like… ‘Grams, think, there must be a charm or a spell…’”

“So something in that phrase is what broke the spell,” Damon says.

“But I would’ve have to have been talking backwards to break the spell.”

He gives her a pointed look. “Witchy, sometimes spells can be one syllable long. Something that you said must’ve been the spell backwards.”

“Okay,” Bonnie says. “It was… a charm, a spell, a… no… wait. That’s not what I said. I said...”

She wracks her brain, trying to remember what word she used, and when exactly she heard the small _pop_ that changed Stefan back into a vampire. She had barely been paying attention to her exact word choice then. How was she supposed to remember the exact phrasing now?

She gnashes her teeth, cursing Kai for everything he’s done. For putting her in this position, for harming thousands of lives, for fucking trapping her in this cellar-

_Trap. That’s an interesting word._

She blinks, and the wheels start turning in her mind.

“Trap!” She says, “That’s what I said. ‘A trap, a,’ and then the spell was broken!”

Damon curls his lip. “‘A trap, a’?”

“Yeah” Bonnie nods. “Trapa.”

“Trapa,” Damon takes a swig from his flask. “Like ‘apart’ backwards? Trapa? Little witch, I know I said that I knew one syllable spells, but this...”

Bonnie says, “That has to have been it.”

“Okay,” he looks doubtful. “Alright. So what kind of witchy stuff did you have when you said the spell?”

Bonnie glances upward, trying to access the memoires. What had she been doing? Just sitting in Grams’s living room, frustrated and sweaty. And Gram’s house was full of magical artifacts; any one of them could have been the key to undoing the Gray Spell.

Damon sighs like he’s in pain. “Okay. Think about it this way. What do you usually need for spells?”

Bonnie licks her lips. “Well… a sacred marking of some sort… usually blood… another element or powerful object...”

“Did you draw one of your magic circles?” Damon asks.

Bonnie rolls her eyes. “No, of course. Not. And anyway, I wouldn't have had to. There’s a heptagram under the foundation of Grams’s house...”

 _So that I never have to worry about drawing a sacred star before I cast a spell in my own home,_ Grams had told her, the first time she was in Halloweentown.

“Alright, so you’ve got your magic words and your drawing,” Damon says. “What else?”

Bonnie looks down at her palms. The tiny scratches from Kai’s rose have already healed, thanks to Damon’s blood. There’s just a bit of dried blood spotted on her hands. She flexes them, and they only ache slightly. Realization slowly dawns on her.

“I had sweat and blood on my hands,” she says. “And… I was holding a ring, one that looked like my friend Caroline’s… it felt heavy, with magic. I think it was a daylight ring.”

“Good,” Damon says. “So we got the magical artifact and the bodily fluids. Anything else?”

Bonnie shakes her head. I don’t think so.“

“There’s nothing else that you did?”

She flushes slightly. “Besides lighting Grams’s old love letters on fire? No-”

Damon points at her. “You a pyromaniac, or something?”

Bonnie ignores him, but hope blossoms up in her chest. More often than not, a natural element - like fire, water or earth - are also be part of a spell. Could it really be this easy, though? To break something as horrible at the Gray Spell? Some blood and sweat, a magical object, and a pile of ash? That had to be it. Because Stefan had only turned back into a vampire after Bonnie had said the words with feeling, surrounded by all of those things.

 Bonnie snaps her fingers together a few ties, feeling the magic thrum to life inside of her. It sparks at her fingertips, begging to be used, even though she feels mostly drained. It's calling from her soul, telling her that she has more work to do. She has to help. To heal.

She smiles over at the vampire, a fond feeling swelling inside her. “Damon Salvatore, I swear I could kiss you right now.”

He has the audacity to wink. “With my blood on your tongue? Kinky.”

Bonnie rolls her eyes. “Can you grab me some speller’s chalk and a knife? Also, your daylight ring.”

“Hey-”

“You’re also gonna have to be my test subject,” she says.

He glares at her. “No way, witchling. You think-”

She points her finger at him. “You promised to help the Bennett line. Well, here I am. Asking for your help.”

He stares at her hard for a moment, before standing up. “Sometimes I really regret making that promise to Emily.”

She shoots him a dirty look.

 

+++

 

Once she draws her seven-point star, Bonnie steps into the center of it. She wipes the sweat off of her brow with her right hand. With her left, she grips Damon’s butcher knife, before sliding it across her palm. The salt stings, just like back in Grams’s living room. It helps to ground her and she calls the ashes of the guillotine over to her, spreading it evenly within her circle. She exchanges the knife for Damon’s daylight ring. He looks her in the eyes and deliberately licks her blood off of the blade. She gives him an unimpressed look.

“What?” He grins at her, his teeth slightly stained. “Witch’s blood is so much sweeter than any other kind.”

In lieu of responding, she closes her eyes. Lifting her hands up, she calls her magic forward. She can feel it pulsing in the cut on her palm. It beats along steadily, like her heartbeat.

“Apart!”

Before she can open her eyes, there’s a _pop_. Then suddenly, before her eyes, Damon turns Gray. He looks exactly like he did when she left him, before Stefan ripped his lungs out. Ill-fitting suit, teacup, and dull eyes. He looks at the knife in his hand, dropping with a startled gasp.

He spits. “Oh, my. That’s not sanitary at all.”

Bonnie laughs gleefully. She never thought she would be so excited to see such a dull and boring Damon sitting in front of her, eyeing her empty, stained glass like it personally offends him.

She snaps again in his direction, calling the magic to the tips of her fingers. “Trapa!”

Another _pop_ , and Damon is back to normal. He groans, running his hands over his hair and chest, as if making sure all of him is back the way it should be. He glares at her, and then takes a long drink from his flask. Bonnie raises her arm, about to try again, when his hand shoots out to grasp her wrist tightly.

“If you wanna keep that hand, you won’t be using me as your guinea pig again,” he warns her.

She’s not even bothered. “Damon!”

“Bonnie Bennett?”

“You - you were right!” she grins at him. “We did it! We broke the Gray Spell! I can turn Grams back into a witch, and you back into a drunk vampire-”

He sputters, blood and liquor dripping out of his mouth. “What the hell do you mean, drunk vampire? Was I sober?”

“- And save everyone!”

She pushes herself off of the floor, Grams’s grimoire tucked underneath her arm. Damon remains seated, looking up at her with a strange expression on his face. She can’t tell if it’s admiration or straight-up worry, and she honestly doesn’t care. She’s going to get home, save all of the creatures and humans, and confront Kai-

Fuck.

“Your moods change extremely quick,” Damon says, smoothly standing up. “You should see someone about that.”

Bonnie glares at him. “I… I can’t leave.”

Damon looks at her. “How did you get here, then?”

She gestures. “Uhm. Time travel spell that only works going backwards.”

He stares at her for a moment. “That only works going… goddammit, Bennett.”

She straightens her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. Maybe there’s another one, in this grimoire...”

He interrupts her. “Nevermind that, Bennett. Here, just use the timeline.”

She furrows her brow and watches as he walks across the room, towards the prison door. He wrenched it open with one hand, and she gasps. Instead of it being a cell or a small room, it looks like an infinite universe. Starlight beams out of it, and the wind is so heavy that Bonnie has to brace her knees to keep from being pushed against the wall.

“What the hell is that?” she asks.

“Present from Morgana,” Damon says. “Let me tell you, she gives the best presents. This one night, it was her, Merlin and I, and-”

Bonnie holds a hand up. “Ugh. Spare me the details.”

He shrugs. “You know, Sheila’s not nearly as uptight as you are-”

“Damon!” she rolls her eyes. “How does this thing work?”

He grins at her. “It’s a tricky little thing. It actually only works for time travelers.”

She stares at him. “What?”

He chuckles. “Morgana always was a crafty. You see, you jump in, and it takes you to any point in your future where you’ve left behind a time gap. Basically, that moment between when you left your own era and went into another one.”

She peers at it, eyes watering when she stares for too long. “So I jump in and land back to the present - uhm, my present - at the exact right moment that I left?”

“Yup,” he says.

She laughs, a little hysterically. “Sounds so perfect I’d accuse you of making it up.”

“This isn’t something I’d lie about,” Damon says. “And you can trust me, because I’m always honest when talking about my lies.”

Bonnie gives him the side-eye. “Okay.”

He pats the door. “You know, this baby is one-time use only. Once you jump in, it’s gone for good...”

She sighs. “What do you want, Damon?”

He’s quiet for a moment, and then a pained look crosses his face. Bonnie almost steps back, so unaccustomed to seeing something so raw, so sincere.

“Stefan and I...” he pauses. “In your present, we’re… talking?”

Bonnie looks at him for a moment before nodding. “You’re best friends. You actually both live here, together.”

He raises an eyebrow.“ Really? And neither one of us is dead?”

She shrugs. “Well. You’re both technically undead, but-”

He groans. “Just jump in the timeline before I change my mind and have you as an early breakfast.”

Bonnie scoffs at him, and moves across the room. She stands at the threshold of the timeline. With a wave of her hand, she shrinks Grams’s old grimoire down so it’s pocket-sized. She shoves it into her robe along with the speller’s chalk. She glances up towards Damon, who’s looking at her with calculated eyes. It seems almost sweet, and he gives her a crooked grin. Bonnie takes a chance, surprising herself; she leans in to give him a hug. He smells like good bourbon and cloves. When she pulls back, she presses his daylight ring back into his hands.

“Thanks again, Damon,” Bonnie says. “See you in about seventy mortal years.”

He nods, and she jumps into the timeline.

 

+++

 

She only stumbles slightly when she lands, half crouching in the cellar. She stands up straight, blinking at everything around her. The room looks exactly as it did when she first left, but there’s no one in inside. Even worse, everything feels strange; the air is hazy and too thick on her skin. Around her, the shapes are shadowy; nothing seems very clearly defined except for her own body. She looks down; the brown solidity of her hands rests in sharp contrast to the room.

Her heart stutters for a moment, worried that she’s royally fucked up.

“Why, Bonnie,” an admiring voice says behinds her. “What a pleasant surprise.”

Bonnie spins around. Kai is standing just a few feet away, smiling down at her. She grits her teeth; her heart skips a couple of beats, and not just from fear.  

“Kai,” she says.

“Did you time travel?” He sounds like he’s in awe.

Bonnie shifts the book towards her side, lifting her dominant hand. Her magic sparks. He has the audacity to smile wider at her, lifting his own hands gently, placating. As if he’s apologizing for bumping into her in the hallway. She can feel her heart pounding against Grams’s grimoire. She's so incredibly angry that she wants to scream at him. 

“That’s none of your business,” Bonnie snaps.

He says, “Oh, touchy.”

“Where am I, Kai?” she bites out at him. “And what is this?”

“You’re in limbo, of course,” Kai blinks at her owlishly.

She can’t help herself.  “Limbo?”

“And in-between place,” he says. “I end up here sometimes, an unfortunate side effect of my time in a prison world. I think.”

“So why am I here? Another one of your traps?”

“What? No.” He frowns. “What do you mean, another trap?”

She glares. “You made it impossible for us to leave the Salvatore cellar!”

“The Salvatore cellar?” He blinks at her. “Is that where you’ve been wasting time trying to stop me?”

She seethes. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t spell the door so we couldn’t get out-”

He shakes his head, chuckling slightly. “I’m not lying. I did spell the door, but only because I wanted to trap Damon down there. I thought it would be amusing, for him to slowly desiccate in the one place where he…

Bonnie speaks before her brain can stop her. “In the place they locked you up?”

“Exactly.” He narrows his eyes at her. “I’m surprised he even let you down there. Usually it’s reserved for his special guests.”

She glares at him, and he tilts his head slightly. Then, he begins to grin, as if he’s proud of her.

“You time traveled as a loophole out of the spell. Amazing, Bonnie. You know, just imagine what we could do together, if -”

“God, shut up-”

He snaps his jaw shut, but only for a moment.

“But back to your question. Ending up in limbo is an effect of time-jumping. Think of it as… an offline space that you have to stop in as the world catches up to you,” he says. “Well, that’s what I’ve heard it is, anyway. In theory. I’ve always wanted to time travel, but I hear finding a spell for it is quite complicated. There’s only one witch I know of that has one, and it’s tricky, you see, because you can only go back in time...”

He looks at her appraisingly. She crosses her arms over her chest, trying to place a barrier between them. She hates to admit it, but the more that he speaks, the more charming she finds him. Even as her anger remains at a steady heat, she recognizes, again, why exactly she liked him so much in the first place. She presses her lips together, wondering why it had to be him, why he has to be the villain of this story. Pettiness washes up and over her; she wants to bait him, make him even as slightly as upset as she is. Maybe that would help with her wanting to look at him empathetically. 

“Maybe you can show me your spell, sometime,” he says. “I’d love to travel with you.”

“Over my dead body.”

He tuts at her. “Well, that wouldn’t be very fun at all.”

“Really?” She chooses her insult carefully. “Because from what I hear, the only person who can stand to be around you is a zombie.”

His eyes flash. “Ah. So you know about Jo.”

“I talked to Grams,” she says. “I know a lot of things about you, now.”

“And yet you’re still on her side.”

“Of course I am!” she says, incredulous. “I’m on the side of good-”

“Oh?” his voice is mild, but his face looks angry. “And tell me, Bonnie, exactly what’s good about what she and my father have done to me, and others like me.”

“You killed your own sister-”

“So have generations of Geminis,” Kai says. “And if we had done The Merge, she would still be dead. But I would be leader of one of the most powerful covens in Halloweentown. I would’ve been revered. God, why is it evil when I do it without Joshua’s permission?”

“The Merge was horrible even when the Geminis did it!” Bonnie almost shouts. “It was an archaic, horrible ritual-”

He laughs and it's awful. “And abusing children, that's fine?”

Bonnie glares. “No, of course not-”

“Tell me, why my magic - who I am - is so much worse than any of the other monsters here,” he’s grinning at her, sharp and hard. “Why it's natural for the vampires to glamour their victims and then drain them. Why we forgive young werewolves for tearing people apart on their first moon. Why it's just ‘defending their home’ when trolls drown and eat their victims. Go ahead, Bonnie. Tell me why a siphoner is an abomination but everything else is just ‘the way creatures are.’”

Bonnie’s mouth curls down. “I never called you that. I would never call you th-”

“Or better yet, tell me, if what I'm doing is so wrong and evil, why were these spells in your grandmother’s book, anyway?” He asks her, taking a step forward. “If they're so bad, why did she event them? Or is it okay when someone ‘good’ turns a blind eye to abuse, takes away someone's identity, and locks them up?”

Bonnie clenches her hand into a fist. He nails scratch at her open palm wound. “What happened to you was terrible-”

“But I deserved it?” He tilts his head. “For accepting my powers instead of hating them?”

“No!” She growls, and her inner turmoil comes tumbling out. “But - but you're an adult now. You made choices. You choose to hurt people with your powers. And having a fucked up childhood doesn't assuage you of killing your sister, of stealing Gram’s spells, of- of lying to me-”

Something sparks in his eyes. “Is that what you're actually upset about? That I lied to you?”

“No.” she lifts her head, staring at him steadily. “We all make choices. And what you are is determined by how you act, what you decide to do. Not by what's done to you.”

“Do we, really?” He asks. “I wonder what Abby would say about that.”

Her back straightens and her muscles tighten like steel. “What did you just say?”

He stares at her for a long moment, the smile slowly unfurling off of his face. She glares at him, digging her nails deeper into her cut. Trying to breathe, trying not to let her anger flare and light the entire room and both of them on fire. 

“You really don't know,” he says. “You don't know what happened to your mother.”

“My mother’s dead,” Bonnie keeps her voice steady.

He winks. “Well. That's one way of putting it-”

“God, shut up!” She snaps. “Stop, with your - your mind games-”

She can feel herself losing control. Her hands begin to heat, and her entire body buzzes with magic. He takes another step forward. The tips of his boot almost brush against the toes her sneakers. She clenches her teeth, glaring up at him. She refuses to step back.

“You think I'm the only creature that they've tried to get rid of, because I didn't fit into their little box?” His voice is soft, almost like a caress. “You think I was the only one who was put on trial because my existence broke their precious Code of Merlin?”

He leans in closer to her, cheeks brushing. Then, there it is, that electric spark. The one that she’s only ever felt with him. He turns his head. His lips press to the corner of her mouth before trailing upward, towards the shell of her ear.

“I know you don’t trust me, but we could be on the same side, Bonnie,” he whispers.

She turns her head, just the hint of space between them. She blinks, and her eyelashes sweep against his cheekbones. She lifts her head slightly, staring into his eyes.

His entire body feels like a wall of heat against hers. The fire storming inside of her doesn’t feel so violate anymore, but something that’s simmering and reacting to him. She’s not sure why - since she’s definitely still pissed off, definitely still on the defensive - but being this close to him is comforting. Intoxicating. Maybe it’s because her anger has always been an emotion that she can rely on; maybe it’s because she can’t stop thinking about kissing him.

Or maybe, a small part of her mind supplies, the one she's been trying to keep quiet this entire time, he’s not entirely wrong. And that she’s just as fucked up as he is. As they stand there, breathing in each other, she glimpses of a dream come back to her. A childhood bedroom, straddling him on a twin bed, blunt questions and answers. She closes her eyes, unsure of if it was real or all a dream or both. 

He sighs. “Why do we always find ourselves in these shadowy places? When we could be something else, out there. In the other worlds.”

When she speaks, her lips brush against his. “Break the spell and return Grams’s grimoire, and maybe I’ll consider it.”

He chuckles. “Go to City Hall, Bonnie. Check out the Halloweentown records.”

“Kai,” she says, softly.

He shudders. “Don’t worry, I’ll break my containment spell so you can leave. But before you come after me, just do this. You have enough time before midnight in the mortal rea-”

Before she can take another breath, he’s gone. The shadows start to melt back, and Bonnie’s skin feels too tight around her bones. Her flesh squeezes and squeezes until she feels like she can’t breathe. Black spots dance in front of her eyesight, and her knees buckle. The last thing she feels is her bones collapsing onto the stone floor below her.

 

+++

 

She jerks on the floor, blood and wolfsbane leaves sticking to her robes, skin and hair. Behind her, Grams is screeching; in front of her, Stefan has bitten his wrists open, trying to feed his blood to Damon. Damon, who is still Gray, and is bleeding out all over the floor, mouth opening and shutting like he’s trying to breathe, but the message hasn’t been sent to his brain that he doesn’t have lungs anymore. Bonnie spasms on the floor once, spitting up bile.

“Bonnie!” Stefan yelps.

Bonnie moves almost unconsciously.

She rolls out of the sacred circle, and thrusts her hand into her robes. She yanks the speller’s chalk out, and stumbles to a clean spot on the floor, scraping her knees against the stone. As fast as her shaking fingers will let her, she draws a heptagram on the floor. With the other hand, she grabs at one of the discarded books nearby - it’s a copy of _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ , good fucking riddance - and burns it as fast as she can. She’s breathing hard and she feels much too hot. Sweat drips off of her, running down her chest and arms, mixing with the still-open wound on her palm.

“Daylight ring!” she screeches at Stefan once the design is complete.

He yanks it off his finger with his mouth, and tosses it to her.  Her mind becomes scattered into feelings rather than thoughts: fear, love, determination, grace. In this moment, nothing that she knows about Damon, about Grams, about Halloweentown matters. All of the confused anger and uncertainty about good and evil fades away. Because in this moment, the only thing that matters is that someone she loves, one of her friends, is dying. And she'll do everything that she can to save his life.

The magic flows in waves out of her hands, and she lifts them towards Damon. Tears race down her face, and her voice cracks.

“Trapa!”

The _pop_ is crisp and clean, the total opposite of how Bonnie feels. She’s shaking, and she can barely see anything, her vision is so blurry. Everything is quiet for a moment; even Grams has stopped screaming. Then, Damon’s shuddering groans fill Bonnie’s ears, and she almost collapses.

Bonnie wipes at her eyes with the back of her hands. Damon lays in Stefan’s arms, full body tremors overtaking him as his lungs regenerate and the skin over his throat regrows. He’s drenched in his own blood; dark stains glisten on his leather jacket and seep into his gray t-shirt. He lifts his head slightly, staring at Bonnie like he wants to say something.

She drags herself over to him, and presses her palm into his gasping mouth. For a split second, his face vamps out. Bonnie almost flinches back, but then his mouth is sucking at her hand, with much more restraint than she would’ve thought. Stefan grips Damon’s shoulder, little bubbles of relieved laughter emerging from his throat.

Just as she’s starting to feel light-headed, Bonnie drops her hand away from Damon’s mouth. She twists slightly. Her clothes squelch around her, weighted down by blood. Grams is on the floor, body limp. Bonnie hazily thinks that she must have passed out, squeamish from all the gore.

With all the willpower left in her body, Bonnie stretches her leg out so that foot is within the heptagram. Then, she raises her hands, her magic buzzing dangerously within her skin. It feels like a warning, that she should stop, or slow down Instead, with as much force as she can muster, she opens her mouth.

Her voice sounds raw, like sandpaper. “Trapa!”

She hears another _pop_ , and then Grams’s concerned cry, before she blacks out.

 

+++

 

Bonnie wakes to Caroline’s voice, just out of her earshot.

“I can sense him somewhere here, Sheila, but I can’t - I can’t fucking find him. Every time I try to focus on him, his scent slips away. His masking spell is too powerful.”

Grams’s voice is soothing. “Caroline, I know you can do it. Just keep trying.”

Bonnie lays still for a few more minutes, before cracking her eyes open. She struggles to sit up, blinking away the crust from her eyes. She’s back in Abby’s room, in Grams’s house. She feels clean, and is dressed in soft cotton robes. She thinks - hopes - that Grams’s must’ve washed her up and changed her clothing after they got out of the Salvatore’s cellar.

The bedroom door is wide open. On unsteady legs, she follows the sound of Grams’s voice out of the room and into the hallway. It takes her a few minutes to steady herself enough to grab onto the banister and make her way down the creaking staircase.

Elena’s voice pops up, sounding confused. “-Don’t understand how he’s back in the mortal world. Didn’t Bonnie see him in Halloweentown? Is his magic really that powerful that he can just zap back and forth?”

“Maybe there’s a loophole in the spell, that the caster can still create a portal even if no one else can,” Caroline says.

Bonnie reaches the last step and goes into the kitchen, surprised at the sight in front of her. Grams, Stefan and Damon are all sitting around the table, leaning over a heavy, old book. The headphone is in one of Grams’s palms, chattering off as Lucy starts to talk about the possibility that Kai might have a spell that allows him to travel, even though the portal appears to be sealed. Bonnie leans against the doorway.

“Every time I try to call it up on this end, the door is still locked tight,” Lucy says.

“It’s so unfair!” Caroline says. “It’s like, whenever we make a step forward, it’s still two steps back. What’s the use of Bonnie figuring out how to undo the Gray Spell if she and Sheila still can’t cross over to the mortal realm?”

Elena says, “It’s already 11:20 here. Who knows when Kai will unleash the Creature Spell?”

Lucy’s voice is grim. “And if we can’t figure out a way to open the portal now… by midnight, there will be no way to get back here before next Halloween.”

Grams says, “We still have a couple of hours on our side. We can’t give up hope.”

Damon sniffs and looks up, making eye contact with Bonnie. “Why, hello witchling.”

Grams glances up, relief melting into her face. “Bonnie!”

“Bonnie’s awake?” Caroline screams.

“Bonnie, oh God, are you okay?” Elena asks.

Stefan gets out of his chair, gesturing for Bonnie to sit. She slumps forward, gratefully collapsing into it. Grams leans over, giving her a one-armed hug. Bonnie closes her eyes for a moment, inhaling the spicy-sharp scent of her perfume. She had missed this, when Grams was Gray. She feels her grandmother’s lips press into the top of her head. Then, the time for comfort is over.

“Bonnie,” Grams says after she pulls away, “What were you thinking!”

Bonnie coughs. “I missed you too, Grams.”

“You could have gotten yourself killed!” Grams says, tone harsh. “Everything that you did was much to advanced for you! You could’ve killed Damon in the process, or ripped a hole in the time-space continuum-”

“But I didn’t,” Bonnie says. “I’m alive, Damon’s alive, and you and Stefan aren’t Gray anymore-”

“Thanks for that, by the way,” Damon says.

He takes his flask out of his leather jacket pocket and salutes her with it. Stefan rolls his eyes.

“Though, considering I was a dead human for a few moments there was technically your fault,” Damon says. “You know, in the seventy-odd years I’ve been waiting for you to show up and save my life, I never quite imagined it’d be like that-”

Oh, shut up, Damon,“ Stefan says, his tone mostly fond.

Bonnie peers at the book on the table, and is surprised to see it’s the second copy of Gram’s grimoire. Grams must read the confusion on her face.

“After you blacked out, we realized that we weren’t trapped in the cellar anymore,” Grams says. “We came back here immediately. After I cleaned you up and put you to bed, Damon explained what happened back in the 1940s.”

“I filled in all the gaps about what happened after they were both Gray,” Stefan adds.

“I’m so sorry, Bonnie,” Grams says. “As soon as I get my other grimoire back from Malachai, I’m linking these two and-”

“Grams, it’s fine,” Bonnie says. “I just - I was just doing what was right.”

“You did amazing, Bonnie,” Caroline says.

“No one else would’ve been able to do what you did,” Elena adds.

Bonnie stares at the head phone for a moment, closing her eyes. “Thanks, guys.”

“How did you get the door to unlock?” Damon asks.

Bonnie opens her eyes. “I didn’t do anything. It was Kai.”

Caroline shrieks. “Kai?”

Bonnie nods. “When I was coming back to the present day, I got… I don’t know. I ended up in limbo. And he was there, too. He said… that sometimes he ends up there, that it’s a ‘side effect’ of being in a prison world.”

She notices the look Damon and Grams throw each other.

“And he told you he would lift the containment spell?” Damon asks.

Bonnie clears her throat. “He said he wasn’t trying to trap me and Grams, just you.”

“Me?”

Bonnie levels him with a look. “I guess he thought it was only fair, considering what you let Joshua do to him.”

An awkward silence stretches across the kitchen. Stefan coughs slightly; no one on the other side of the head phone speaks. Bonnie shifts, eyes narrowing. She wonders what this means; she wonders how much Caroline, Elena and especially Lucy know about Kai. Something inside of her is going off softly, like hearing a fire alarm after you’ve already exited a building.

Later, she tells herself. Later is when she’ll investigate that and talk more to Grams about Kai’s history and her and Damon’s and possibly all of Halloweentown’s involvement in it. Without meaning to, his voice runs through her head - _You think I was the only one who was put on trial because my existence broke their precious Code of Merlin?_

She tries to tell herself that Kai loves playing games. That he’s done multiple things to ensure that she shouldn’t trust him. But something wicked is happening, something beyond her control. And she’s starting to realize that Halloweentown can’t possibly the creature utopia that she built it up to be in her mind. It’s still Grams’s home, though. And she knows that no matter how she feels about Kai, he has to be stopped. She can't dwell on anything else, especially not the soft feel of her lips rubbing against his. 

Lucy’s voice breaks the silence. “Well. Regardless, you’re all still trapped in Halloweentown.”

Grams gestures towards her grimoire. Bonnie stares down at it, the images and letters blurring together for a moment. She knows she should be getting more rest, but there’s just no time. She only half listens to Grams, trying to focus her eyesight.

“We think that Malachai perverted Beatrice’s portal spell. I don’t have to exact thing written in here, but hopefully it will help us find something to reopen the portal.”

“And we’re doing all we can to find him in Mystic Falls,” Caroline adds. “We’ve been scouring the high school, but no luck, so far.”

“Let us know if you find him,” Grams says.

The head phone stops chattering and the eyes no longer glow. Bonnie lets out a breath, and then concentrates on the grimoire in front of her. An image in the corner of the page catches Bonnie’s attention, and she frowns. It’s a crude drawing of a compass, with spikes jutting out of it. Bonnie tilts her head, looking at it. There’s something extremely familiar about it, but she can’t quite place it. She points at it, fingernail denting the page.

“Grams, what is this?”

Grams follows her finger. “That represents an Ascendant.”

“Ascendant?”

“It’s a relic that allows witches to create portals to other worlds,” Grams says. “It’s a very volatile and dangerous object if used incorrectly. Beatrice first used the power of a solar eclipse to charge it and create the Halloweentown-Mystic Falls portal.”

“It looks really familiar,” Bonnie frowns.

Grams says, “I don’t think so, dear.”

“Why not?”

“It was destroyed after...” Grams sighs. “After I used it to create Malachai’s prison world.”

“What?”

“The Gemini Coven and used the power of a six-planetary alignment to trap him in his prison,” Grams says. “And then we destroyed the Ascendant.”

Bonnie shakes her head. “No, that’s not possible. I know I’ve seen it-”

“It was destroyed,” Grams insists.

Bonnie grits her teeth. “Grams, I’m serious. How do you know for sure that is was destroyed?”

Grams stares back at her, and then blanches. Grams lifts her hand to her mouth, and it’s shaking slightly.

“Grams,” Bonnie’s voice drops. “Who was the one to destroy it?”

“It...” Grams’s voice is smaller than Bonnie has ever heard it before. “Joshua Parker.”

On the table, Bonnie’s open palm clenches into a fist. “What!”

Grams tilts her head back, letting out a deep breath. “After we used the ascendant to trap Malachai, it was Joshua’s task to destroy it. And I believed that he had, but...”

Bonnie realizes where she’s seen the Ascendant before. “Kai has it.”

Damon jumps in, and Bonnie almost jumps, forgetting he was sitting there. “That’s not possible-”

“I saw it!” Bonnie says. “In his dream, I saw it-”

Stefan asks, “You were in his dream?”

Three pairs of eyes stare at her. Bonnie slides her hands off of the table, and places them in her lap. Clenching them into fists, she tries not to let her face heat up as more images from Kai’s dream flash at her. Clear as day, she can see the Ascendant, which she had mistaken for a compass. Sitting there, next to leather gloves, on that pile of books.

“He must have it,” Bonnie says, instead of answering. “With that, and your grimoire, Grams...”

“That’s how he can keep control of the portal,” Stefan answers.

Bonnie nods. “Joshua must’ve hidden the ascendant in his house, and that’s why Kai was back in Halloweentown when I saw him, early. To steal it, and seal the portal for good.”

Damon says, “Didn’t Sheila just say you needed a celestial event, though-”

Bonnie cuts him off. “It was a blue moon tonight in the mortal world.”

“That would do it,” Grams says softly. “Except for one other thing.”

“What?”

Grams stares at Bonnie, hard. “The Ascendant only works with Bennett blood.”

The room goes quiet again, and Bonnie scrunches her face, staring back at her grandmother. At first, she has no idea what Grams is implying, but then it dawns on her. Blood rushes to her face.

“I didn’t give Kai my blood!” Bonnie stutters. “Why - God, Grams, when would I even have done that? When I thought he was human? You think I said, ‘oh yeah, as a token of my love, here’s a vial of me, just like Angelina and Billy Bob’?”

“Bonnie-”

Her anger is flaring dangerously close to the surface. “Or what, you think I did it after I found out that he turned Halloweentown Gray? What, that I said, ‘well, I know you’re evil, but here, take my blood.’ When do you think I did that, huh? In his house-”

She stops talking, humiliation flooding over her. Not because of Grams’s assumptions, but because, as horror crawls through her veins, she realizes that Grams is right. On her lap, her fist slowly unfurls. The scars aren’t there, but she can imagine the bite of a rose’s thorns on her palms. She replays the scene in her head. Kai, snapping his fingers and turning her knife into a flower. Bonnie, tossing it away, not even thinking -

Stefan’s hand curls gently on her shoulder, a comfort. His voice is even softer. “No one thinks that, Bonnie.”

“I know you would never do that, Bonnie,” Grams says. “I’m shouldn’t have said that.”

Bonnie’s tongue feels stuck to the roof of her mouth. Part of her wants to tell them the truth, but no words are building in her throat. She stares down at the grimoire. The image of the Ascendant mocks her.  

“Kai is a sneaky bastard,” Damon says. “He must have found Bennett blood another way.”

Grams nods. “You’re right. How he got it isn’t important, now. We have to figure out a way to stop him. Because if he has the Ascendant...”

“What?” Stefan says.

“He could be doing much more than just keeping the portal closed,” Grams says. “He could be… trying to turn Halloweentown into a prison world.”

Bonnie almost chokes. “Can he do that?”

Grams nods. “And that… it would explain why he’s planning on using the Creature Spell as well.”

“Why would he…?”

Grams says, “To create a prison world for one soul… you need the blood of a supernatural creature. To create a prison world for an entire world...”

“You’d need the blood of hundreds of supernatural creatures,” Bonnie whispers. “Oh my God.”

Grams nods grimly. “This must be his plan.”

“We - we have to stop him,” Bonnie says. “All those innocent humans-”

“Not to mention everyone here, imprisoned-” Damon says.

Stefan cuts him off. “Is it possible that there’s another Ascendant?”

Grams shakes her head slowly. “Not that I know of, at least...”

“At least?” Bonnie finds her voice.

“At least not one created by Bennetts,” Grams says. “But… if Joshua kept our Ascendant, it might be entirely possible that he did so because he wanted to make his own.”

Damon tilts his head, considering. “Sounds like Parker to me. What is it he always used to talk about? How much he hated having to rely on the Bennetts when the Geminis should have been twice as strong?”

Bonnie says, “I guess Joshua’s plan for world domination goes way, way, back huh?”

No one laughs, and Bonnie doesn’t expect them to.

 

+++

 

They agree that looking for an Ascendant that might not even exist is their best plan. Grams says that if Joshua has made an Ascendant, it would closely resemble Beatrice’s.

“Besides, these are relics of great power,” Grams adds. “Any creature would be able to recognize the energy coming off of it immediately.”

“Do you think it would be affected by the Gray Spell, like our daylight rings, though?” Stefan asks.

Grams shakes her head no. “Or, we can only hope.”

The four of them split up, because there’s very little time left for anything else. Grams heads to the Gemini house while Damon agrees to search the Halloweentown movie theater, the place where Joshua reeked havoc last year. Stefan goes to the Parker family cemetery, almost on the outskirts of town. Bonnie volunteers to check out City Hall. Even though Grams mentions that Joshua’s office as mayor was double-checked and cleared out after they vanquished him, there was no harm in checking. Bonnie smiles tightly and pretends that she doesn’t hear Kai’s voice in her head, breath against her face, telling her, _Go to City Hall, Bonnie. Check out the Halloweentown records_.

When she leaves Grams’s house, her pockets are weighed down with a pocket knife, speller’s chalk, leftover ash from Jack the Ripper’s letter that no one cleaned up, and one of the spare daylight rings. She tells herself that both finding the Ascendant and finding out the truth about her mother are equally important.

 

+++

 

Luckily, it’s late at night. City Hall is devoid of all Gray creatures. Bonnie thinks wryly that they’re probably all asleep by now, tucked up because of some universal bedtime. It’s nothing for her to slip through the front doors and make her way up to the Hall of Records. She barely gives the mayor’s office a second glance as she slips by it.

With everything Gray, Bonnie doesn’t have to worry about magic keeping her out of the room. She mutters a simple unlocking spell and with a click, the steel door springs open. She steps inside, gently closing the door behind her. She tells herself it’s just in case there’s a janitorial staff that might be suspicious of the open door.

Just as she suspected, the Hall of Records appears to be affected by the Gray Spell too.  

Endless rows of card catalogs, reaching from floor to ceiling, go off in every direction. There’s one thin table in the center of the room with folding chairs, which Bonnie assumes is for people who want to look at files. A tall seat is at the opposite end of the room, probably to make sure everyone inside is carefully supervised. It sits empty now, but shadows loom over it, making Bonnie do a double-take just to be sure.

Bonnie takes a deep breath, and crouch near the table. With a steady hand, she makes quick work of the heptagram. She scatters the ash, drops the daylight ring, and cuts open her palm, making sure her sweat goes into the wound. Once the ritual is complete, she pressed her palms into the floor, inhaling on a spark.

“Trapa!”

It’s the loudest _pop_ yet, and the room bursts into color. Bonnie has to keep her eyes half shut as everything begins to transform. The card catalogues are all wiggling and jumping, their draws snapping open and shut. Tiny bats, toads, and owls either crawl or hover around the catalogs. The table is now round and made of stone, with twenty five chairs appearing, all carved with names of King Arthur’s knights. Behind the tall seat, which looks more like a lab table, the Code of Merlin blossoms on the wall in ten different languages.

Bonnie stands up, unsure of where to start now.

A small bat flies over to her, hovering near her neck. “What files would you like to access, please?”

Bonnie clears her throat. “Do you have anything on… Abby Bennett’s death?”

The bat beeps like a computer program error. “Nothing listed under ‘Abby Bennett’s death.’”

Bonnie’s heart pounds. “What about… ‘Abby Bennett’s… last trial’?”

The bat zips away towards one of the file cabinets, disappearing into an open drawer. Bonnie stands there, watching. The bat flies back out, holding a vial in its mouth, filled with a milky blue liquid. It drops the vial onto the stone table, causing the glass to shatter. Before Bonnie can gasp or say anything else, the liquid on the table begins to form images. Bonnie pulls out one of the chairs - Lancelot - and sits down heavily, watching the images.

 

+++

 

_Abby is standing in the middle of a court, surrounded by the Original Council. All of the Mikaelsons except for Kol are present._

_Abby’s back is straight and her eyes are proud. She looks almost the same as she does in the photo that Bonnie has in her room in Mystic Falls. But there’s something a bit different about this Abby. Bonnie can’t put her finger on it, but there’ something colder about Abby. Something about her essence, almost, that doesn’t seem like a witch’s._

_Rebekah speaks, sounding bored. “You chose to give up your magic when you decided to stay in Mystic Falls-”_

_“And that was a mistake,” Abby’s eyes flash. “I have asked this Council multiple time to restore my powers-”_

_Klaus says, “You were warned of the consequences when you married the mortal and chose to leave your home here. Just because you’re having buyer’s remorse does not mean we can just give you your magic back-”_

_Esther interrupts. “This is an old argument, one that we will not get into now. You made a choice to love and have a child with a human. You made a choice to keep that child with you in Mystic Falls. You made the choice to ask us to take your magic away.”_

_Bonnie gasps as the other Originals nod. She always thought that Abby just chose to not use magic. But she had asked the Originals to take it away from her completely? The thought makes something ache, deep within Bonnie's heart._

_“What we are here to determine today is your punishment for trying to undermine our ruling,” Esther continues._

_Abby snarls, and Bonnie claps her hand over her mouth. Abby’s face transforms; her veins become pronounced, her teeth elongate, and her eyes turn black._

_Her mother is a vampire._

_“I already told you, I don’t go looking to be turned,” Abby says. “You think that I would want to be a vampire? To be even further away from my magic?”_

_“You say that,” Klaus mocks. “But what is your proof?”_

_Abby yells. “Proof? Your proof is that every damn day I regret staying in Mystic Falls. Your proof is the innumerable petitions I made to this Council to be able to return to Halloweentown and gain my powers back. Your proof is that it’s impossible to be both witch and vampire, so why in the world would I ever ask to be turned-”_

_“You’re not so young that you were not around for the Heretics,” Elijah says smoothly._

_Abby glares. “Those siphoner hybrids were abominations-”_

_Rebekah cuts her off. “Be that as it may, don’t you think it’s just the tiniest bit suspicious that you were turned by Lily’s son?”_

_“He came looking for me, not the other way around,” Abby says. “I can’t even cross through the portal without your magic-”_

_“And why would he be looking for you?” Klaus asks._

_Abby is silent for a moment. “He wanted to ask me about my daugh-”_

 

+++

 

Bonnie’s body pulls backwards, out of the chair and onto the floor. She gasps, disoriented. Her bones slam into the floor, and she has to jerk her neck in an uncomfortable angle to stop her skull from bashing into the stones. She groans in pain before looking up. Her heart stills in her chest for a moment, before beating rapidly.

“Esther?” she gasps.

The Original witch snaps her fingers. The liquid on the table gathers up into a long string, and then pours itself back into the vial. The small bat flies over and takes the vial, disappearing back into the jumble of card catalogs. Bonnie grits her teeth, and slides her palms along the floor until she gets a good grip. Biting back a pained moan at her open wound, she hoists herself back to her feet. Esther watches her passively as Bonnie tries to contain her magic. The anger is calling to her, asking for her to release it. To let her flames go, burning up everything inside the room -

“Your temper is just like Abby’s, I see,” Esther frowns at her. “Exacerbated, no doubt, but having a human father.”

Bonnie snaps, “Nice of you to show up, randomly. Where have you and the Council been, while Kai has been busy destroying Halloweentown?”

“You seemed to have everything under control.” Esther flicks a spot of imaginary dirt off of her shirt. “Well. Until you got sidetracked and started snooping-”

“Snooping?” Bonnie clenches her teeth. “I have the right to know about my own mother, who I thought was dead-”

“Do you?” Esther asks her bluntly. “I question that, especially considering how you’re behaving now.“

“You have no-”

“Aren’t you supposed to be finding an Ascendant and saving your two worlds?” Esther asks. “Instead you’re wasting time, following some self-serving desire that was put into your head by Malachai Parker, of all beings.”

“Have you been spying on me?”

Esther sniffs. “I won’t dignify that with a response.”

Before Bonnie can say anything else, Esther tosses something as her. Bonnie lunges forward to catch it before it lands on the floor. She glances down, magic flaring to life in her palms. It’s a small metal object, made of bronze with a few pearls circling the rim. Her thumb pushes into one, and spikes jut out of it. Bonnie holds it carefully, in awe of how her magic calls out to the power inside of it. It radiates the same energy and comfort that Bonnie feels whenever she casts a spell with Grams or Lucy.

“Is this-”

“An Ascendant? Yes,” Esther says. “Is it Joshua Parker’s? No. Please. He couldn’t have made one if instructions and a box set were dropped into his lap.”

Bonnie looks at Esther. “Who’s is this?”

“It’s mine, of course,” Esther lifts her head. “Mine and Ayana’s.”

Bonnie raises her eyebrows. “Ayana? My ancestor?”

Esther nods. “We created that one - the very first one - together. Who do you think Beatrice modeled hers after?”

The silence stretches before Bonnie asks her, “Why are you giving this to me?”

Esther shrugs. “I grow bored of watching Malachai’s little tantrum and wish to return home.”

Bonnie narrows her eyes, fingers clenching around the Ascendant. “You and the rest of the Council are the most powerful creatures of Halloweentown. Why not do it yourself?”

Instead of answering, Esther says, “Bonnie, you’re on your way to becoming one of the most power Bennetts. Don’t waste your time looking into the past when you could be honing your powers. In just a year, you’ll be leaving Mystic Falls behind, anyway.”

Out of spite, Bonnie says, “I haven’t chosen what I’m going to do yet.”

Esther smiles; it’s patronizing. “But, you will. You, Caroline Forbes, Elena Gilbert - once you become adults, you all have decisions to make. Creatures do not belong in the mortal world.”

“I’m half human-”

“But you’re all witch,” Esther says.

Before Bonnie can say anything else, Esther is muttering something - perhaps old French - and swings her robes around her. Then, as fast as she appeared, she’s gone.

With a sigh, Bonnie snaps her fingers. Three little paper birds fly out of her robes, messengers to Grams, Damon and Stefan, announcing that she’s found the Ascendant. Then she stands there for a moment, feeling more confused and alone than she’s ever been before.

 

+++

 

Bonnie is the last to arrive on Main Street, despite being the closest.

“Sure are cutting it close, Bon Bon,” Damon says to her. “It’s only a few minutes to midnight in the mortal world.”

Bonnie says, “Then we’d better get started.”

Bonnie starts to respond Lucy’s voice begins to scream from within Grams’s robes. Grams pulls the head phone out of her pocket, and Bonnie leans in, gripping the Ascendant tightly.

“Luce?” she asks.

Lucy’s voice is hoarse. “We were right about Jo. Almost everyone is wearing a creature mask-”

“And Kai must’ve spelled them, because no one can get theirs off,” Elena’s voice cuts in.

“We just found a way to reopen the portal,” Bonnie says. “We’ll be there soon-”

“Hurry, Bonnie!” Caroline says. “Your dad - my mom - almost everyone is here-”

“Have you located Kai?” Grams asks.

“I can’t see him, but I know he’s here,” Caroline says. “I can hear him! I think he’s started the Creature Spell already -”

“Wait, I hear it too,” Elena says. “What-”

“By wind, by rain, by fire, by Earth, with this spell, I will avenge their cruel jokes at our expense,” the head phone chatters, Kai’s voice comes in, loud and clear.

Bonnie’s heart flips in her chest. Caroline is yelling that she can see Kai now, that he’s up in the rafters, and she’s going to go after him. Lucy sounds like she’s struggling to hold the vampire back, telling her to stay put, that Bonnie and Grams will have the portal open soon -

Grams shoves the head phone into Stefan’s hands. Then, she bites the flesh of her palm, teeth sharp. Once the blood spills out, she covers Bonnie’s hands with her own. The Ascendant digs into Bonnie’s palm, the spikes sliding under her skin, where her own palm is already cut. Bonnie looks up at Grams’s face, her eyes stormy and determined.

Bonnie hears Kai’s voice again. “Change them into the creature whose disguise they have taken.”

“Ready?” Grams asks.

Bonnie nods, and together they start to chant. Over the head phone, the sounds of screaming and panic make the skull’s jaw flap open and closed rapidly. One voice is yelling that they can’t breathe; another is moaning about how thirsty they are, how good the blood around them smells -

“From Halloweentown depart we now, on this, the night, All Hallow's Eve, back into the mortal world. Through the portal, we take our leave!”

The portal door materializes, magic and electricity crackling around them. Bonnie almost cries in relief as it swings open. Just as soon as it comes, her relief morphs into dread as she takes in the scene before her. Through the portal, she can see the Mystic Falls High School gym in full clarity. Frozen, she can only watch in horror at the images unfolding before her.

Everything is in utter chaos. All of the humans turned into creatures are dark, twisted things that Bonnie can’t even recognize. Everyone else runs, screaming and crying for help, as the creatures attack them. Bonnie flinches away from the image as she watches a vampire rip into someone’s neck, blood spurting all over their face and doctor’s costume. It's the worse thing that she has ever witnessed.

Her eyes catch onto Elena, who punches a swamp monster in the stomach, seaweed and slime drenching her arms and hair. Caroline has another vampire in her arms, snapping their neck quickly and efficiently. Bonnie almost doesn’t spot Lucy until she glances upwards towards the ceiling. Her cousin is on the rafters, shooting golden electric blasts at Kai. Kai is giving as good as he’s getting, black lightning striking at Lucy’s chest.

She must have one of the head phones in her pocket, because Kai’s mocking tone comes in through the one in Stefan’s hands.

“You think this is the end of it?” he laughs. “It’s only the beginning.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Lucy shouts, “And then all these humans will change back -”

“You really think you can kill me? You?”

“If I don’t get you, Bonnie will-”

“Bonnie is trapped in Halloweentown-”

Lucy laughs. “Is she?”

Bonnie screams.

Kai glances down, and their eyes meet through the portal. Then, a buzzer sounds. And before Bonnie can crash through to the mortal realm, the portal door begins to swing shut. The last thing that she sees is Lucy knocking Kai off of the rafters and lunging for the Ascendant as it falls out of his hand.

“No!”

Bonnie rushes at the portal door, a sliver of it still open. Her nails dig into the door, all of them breaking as she tries to keep it open. She shoves a knee into the small gap and screams from the pain of the edge almost popping her kneecap out of place. Strong, cold arms pull her back. As the door locks shut, she glances up, gnashing her teeth. Her forehead almost collides with Damon’s jaw as he drags her down the portal steps.

Bonnie struggles, trying to wave her hands as she yells the portal spell, trying to open the door again. It stays firmly shut. Damon’s arms tighten around her until she drops in his arms, overwhelming despair washing over her.

“Bonnie, it’s too late,” he says in her ear. “The portal’s closed.”

Bonnie’s heartbeat thrums in her ears. “I failed. All those people are going to be… and I’m...”

“Halloweentown will become a prison world,” Stefan says softly.

Grams takes a deep breath. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll reverse the Gray Spell. And then I’ll train you, properly, like we planned to do-”

Bonnie rips herself out of Damon’s arms, glaring at her grandmother. “And then what? We wait another mortal year, for another blue moon, and try to open the portal again? That doesn’t help the humans who are about to be slaughtered now. That doesn’t help Caroline or Lucy or Elena or - or my dad-”

“Bonnie, calm down-”

“No, Grams!” Bonnie says. "It’s my fault that all of this is happening. There’s gotta be something we can do.“

Grams takes a deep breath. “Bonnie, i love them too. But there’s nothing we can do. We can’t change the rules-”

Bonnie straightens her spine. “Well, why the fuck not?”

“Bonnie!”

“We are the descendants of the most powerful witches in existence!” Bonnie says. “Qetsiyah created Halloweentown and Beatrice created the first portal spell. Grams, you’re the one who first made a prison world!”

Bonnie grabs the head phone from Stefan, bringing it up to her face. Her magic courses through her veins, igniting all of her nerve endings. She can practically feels her ancestors deep in her marrow, calling on her to use her full strength and theirs to end this. The eyes of the skull light up before Bonnie opens her mouth.

“What are you doing?” Stefan asks.

Bonnie ignores him, speaking directly into the head phone. “Care? Elena? Lucy? Can you hear me?”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then the jaw begins to chatter.

“We’re here,” Caroline’s voice crackles over growls and cries for help. “I’m with Elena!”

“Bonnie, the portal’s closed,” Elena shouts. “And we can’t - Kai looks like he’s preparing for another spell-”

“I have the Ascendant,” Lucy says. “I’ll try to keep it away from him as long as possible, but -”

“He’s trapped us all in here,” Elena says. “The doors won’t open-”

Bonnie’s fingers clench over the skull. “Guys - guys listen to me. We’re going to open the portal.”

Caroline sounds close to tears. “Bon, we can’t. It’s after midnight.”

“I don’t care,” Bonnie snaps. “Midnight isn’t going to stop me. The portal hasn’t always been there. And if Beatrice can create it, we can damn sure keep it open.”

Elena says, “Bonnie-”

“No!” Bonnie says. “It was created by Bennetts, and no one’s magic is stronger than ours.”

Lucy says, “Hon, that might be so, but it’s just you, me and Grams-”

Carolina speaks, determination in her tone. “No. It’s me and Elena too.”

A hand falls onto Bonnie’s shoulder. She looks up to see Stefan, nodding at her. “And me and Damon.”

Damon says, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that's three vampires and a doppelgänger. We don’t have magic-”

“No, you may not have magic, but you are magic,” Grams snaps suddenly. “And if we all believe enough, we can do it.”

Bonnie nods. “Come on. What do you say?”

Damon crinkles his eyes at her. “Bonnie Bennett, if anyone can do it, it’s you. I’m in.”

“No,” Bonnie shakes her head. “It’s us.”

“Elena, Caroline, I’m on my way to you now,” Lucy says.

“How do we do this?” Elena asks. “There’s no spell for it.”

Bonnie says, “We’ll just have to make up our own.”

Bonnie places her palms back over Grams’s. The Ascendant bites into her wound again, making blood drip over it. Stefan and Damon place their cold hands over hers. Bonnie closes her eyes and calls all of her magic to her palms. When she begins to chant, the voice that comes out of her mouth is not just her own. It is all of the voices of the entire Bennett line.

“We call on the dreams of creature and mortal, to heal the wound that worlds divide. From now on, we each can create a portal, and each of us our own path decide!”

A burst of light gusts through the square, and Bonnie stumbles backwards. She blinks steadily to guard her eyes. When she speaks again, the voices of her friends and family join hers, strong and clear.

“We call on the dreams of creature and mortal, to heal the wound that worlds divide. From now on, we each can create a portal, and each of us our own path decide!”

The portal door swings open; Kai’s enraged screams fill Bonnie’s ears.

She runs through the portal just as he appears behind Caroline and Elena. Lucy pivots on her heel, screaming their names. She pushes them out of Kai’s line of fire, just as he throws electricity at them. Bonnie can feel Grams, Stefan and Damon right behind her. For a moment, her body feels like plasma, and then she’s back in Mystic Falls.

Chaos still reigns around them, as creatures attack humans. She vaguely hears Grams and Lucy setting up pentagrams and trying to create magical barriers between creature and human. Elena is screaming for the humans to move behind the wall, to get into a safe place. Caroline, Damon and Stefan are growling, vamped out, trying to stop the worse of the violent creatures.

But Bonnie only has eyes for Kai, his own gaze stormy on her. He looks incredibly angry, but when he speaks, it’s with a laughing tone in his voice. She can’t tell if he’s delighted or if he’s mocking her.

“You opened the portal,” he says. “I can’t - Bonnie Bennett, you opened the portal.”

She bites at him, “You’re not the only one with an Ascendant.”

“No, I guess not,” he shrugs. “Well. This is awkward.”

She steps closer to him, sweeping her arm out. “Kai, end this. Now.”

“Why?”

She glares. “Why? Because you lost. The only power that you had was the power to keep us apart. And now you don’t have that anymore. We’ve opened the portal, and we’re going to end the Gray Spell on Halloweentown and the Creature Spell on Mystic Falls.”

“And then what, Bonnie?” he asks. “Things go back to the way they were? You waste another year here and then move to Halloweentown permanently? Become part of the system that’s continually lied to you, that will limit your magic?”

“I won’t have to chose between worlds, not with the portal open-”

He laughs. “You think the Originals will allow you to keep the worlds linked? You may think you saved the day, Bonnie. But they’ll punish you for this. Just like they always punish those that are too different, too powerful.”

“Just like they punished you?” she says.

“Yes, Bonnie,” he says. “I had to learn that the hard way, and you will too.”

“But you didn’t have to do this,” Bonnie says. “You didn’t have to hurt innocent people.”

“And you didn’t either, but you have,” Kai says. “Because you were doing good. Right? Isn’t that what you said?”

"Kai-"

"Look around you, Bonnie," he says. "None of the creatures here are innocent. None of us are. But you would still be standing there even if I only sought justice from those who harmed me, wouldn't you?"

Bonnie feels her magic coat her like a second skin, burning hot and high. She wants to hold onto her anger. She wants to play, on a loop, all the fucked up things he's done this far. But he's staring at her like she should understand what he's trying to say to her, like they've been on the same side this entire time. But she can't give him what he wants. Not completely, not with what he's done with no remorse. 

“We don’t have to hate each other,” she says.

"I could never hate you," he says.

"Kai-"

"But I'm also never going to stop, until everyone who's wronged me has suffered."

The words stab right at her heart. Before she knows it, she’s launching herself at him. Teeth bared, hands like claws, magic charged at her fingertips. Kai shifts into a defensive position, glee on his face. Bonnie crashes into him. Yet instead of attacking her, his hands grip onto her waist, keeping her from falling over. He takes a step back, trying to balance himself.

Caroline screams, “Bonnie! Be careful!”

The world falls away.

 

+++

 

She’s still wrapped up around Kai when they land, tumbling in soft grass. He groans beneath her, fingertips pressing into the skin under her shirt. She pulls away from him before she can relax into the electric feel, rolling onto her back next to him. She feels just like she did in limbo. The atmosphere is too heavy and nothing feels real, not even the grass beneath her. 

“Oof,” he says belatedly. 

She glances around. She thinks they’re in a cemetery. All of the colors, from the green of the grass to the yellow and blue of the sun in the sky, bleed together like a watercolor painting. Kai, still laying next to her, is the only solid thing around. His hand snakes close to her body, gripping her hand tightly. His fingers press slightly into the cut on her palm, and she hisses. He shifts slightly, lifting her hand up. She watches as he turns her palm towards him, and licks across it. She wants to tell him it’s gross, but she would be lying.

Her breathing evens out and her emotions with it.  Bonnie doesn't know how long they lay there, not speaking to each other. She feels ridiculous, but hanging out in limbo makes everything else fade away, almost. She can almost pretend like she hasn't spent the past few hours - days? - driving herself to the brink of exhaustion trying to stop him. She can almost pretend like he has done everything in his power to destroy everything she loves, all for his own revenge.

Almost, she thinks with a sigh.  

“Did you do this on purpose?” she asks him.

He pouts. “I already told you, landing in limbo is just an unfortunate side-effect of -”

“Yeah, yeah,” she says. “But did you do this on purpose?”

“No.”

She doesn’t know why she believes him.

“Whenever I land in limbo, it’s always someplace that had a deep emotional impact on me,” he says. “Or, you know, it would, if I had feelings.”

She asks, “Did Joshua stick you in a mausoleum by yourself for a few days?”

He shakes his head. “No. This where Jo is buried.”

“Was buried,” she says.

Kai smirks. “Yeah. Was buried.”

Bonnie sighs.

“This is kind of nice,” Kai says. “Kind of like a date.”

The statement is so ludicrous that Bonnie doesn’t know if she wants to laugh or bite his head off. She wills herself to get angry, but she finds herself smirking back at him instead. 

“You stole my blood,” Bonnie says.

He smiles. “Borrowed-”

She cuts him off. “You stole my blood and my Grams’s grimoire and my family’s Ascendant. You turned everyone in Halloweentown into humans and a town full of humans that I love into mindless creatures. you almost trapped me in a prison world-"

"- I would've come to get you, Bonnie, I wouldn't have let you rot in there-"

"- and if you don’t think that I’m royally pissed off at you-”

“Oh, I know you are. Righteous anger of the self-sacrificing hero and all that,” Kai says.

“I’m not a self-sacrificing hero.”

“Amongst other things, you traveled back in time to find a musty old book just to stop me.”

Bonnie purses her lips. “That reminds me. I’m taking back Grams’s grimoire. And Lucy already has the Ascendant.”

“The Ascendant that my father stole from you, or the one that you stopped me with?” Kai asks. “Where did you get that, anyway?”

She doesn’t bother to lie to him. “The Hall of Records.”

He beams at her. “So you took my advice!”

“Against my own better judgment,” Bonnie says, and then finds herself telling him, “I found out about my mom. That she got turned. But… I still don’t know if she’s alive now. Or… undead, I guess.”

“We could easily find out.”

She snorts. “We?”

“We could be on the same side, Bonnie.”

She rolls her neck, looks at him. “Just because… I think you're right about shady shit in Halloweentown doesn't mean I'll ever be on your side. Everything you did tonight proves that.”

“Why?” He sounds genuinely curious. “Because you think that what I did was inherently evil and what you've done has to be on the side of the good?”

“I don't think you're evil.”

“Maybe you should.”

She rolls her eyes. “And I'm not afraid of you, either. I'd like to help you. And I'm sorry for what's happened to you. But I'm not afraid of you.”

“Are you sure?” He smirks. “Fear is a powerful aphrodisiac-”

“God, shut up.”

They're quiet for a moment.

Then he asks. “So what happens now?”

Bonnie licks her lips. “We all make our own decisions. You can let your father’s hate decide for you now. Or…”

“Or?”

She shrugs, the grass itching her back. “You can use your powers to heal what you've destroyed.”

He says, “That's cute. But redemption is a fairy tale to tell to children. I won't turn my back on my choices now. And I'll certainly never repent for them.”

She tells him, “People can be a lot more forgiving than you give them credit for.”

“People? Maybe,” he snorts. “Monsters? Never.”

She thinks about her people - Grams and Lucy, Caroline and Elena, Damon and Stefan, Qetsiyah and Ayana and Beatrice and all the ancestors. Creatures who have all done morally terrible things, sometimes in the name of what's right or just or what they can convince themselves are both. How they've all actively harmed people but were eventually forgiven. And yet, she doesn't know if she can see any of them forgiving Kai. If, in order to hold onto the rightness of their own choices, they will always see him as his father did. An abomination.

She wonders if there’s something wrong with her, then. How she can still be so attracted to a man who has done everything in his power to destroy the beings and places she loves, all for his revenge scheme. A small part of her heart whispers that it’s because if she were in his place, she wouldn’t have hesitated to do exactly as he has done.

She feels confused; she closes her eyes for a moment. She wishes, not for the first time, that everything could be black and white. That it could all be the way it might be in a Disney channel movie, instead of this complicated jumble of emotions.

“Just because you were wrong doesn't mean that everyone else is right,” Bonnie says, finally.

Kai shifts away for a moment, letting go of her hand. He wipes her blood on her robes, before sticking his hand inside his jacket pocket. She watches him root around, before pulling out two objects; a travel-sized leather book and a compact mirror. Bonnie recognizes the script on the book; it’s Grams’s grimoire. She knows he’s placed a miniaturizing spell on it.

Kai turns in his side, facing her. Then, he slips his hand beneath her robe, placing both items into an inside pocket. Her heart slams against her ribcage as his hand brushes her breast. He pulls his hand out slowly; the objects feel heavy on her chest.

“What’s that mirror?” She asks.

“A witch’s glass,” he says. “Think of it as trans-dimensional FaceTime.”

“And why would I want that?”

“Because I have its twin.” Kai says. “And you'll miss me when I'm gone. So you can use yours to call me.”

“You think I'm just gonna let you go?” She says incredulously.

He says, “The annoying thing about limbo is that I never quite end up where I started.”

She sighs. “So once we’re free, you'll be far from Mystic Falls?”

“Who knows,” he shrugs. “But for the record…”

“What?”

“You would've let me go anyway.”

She rolls her eyes because she knows he's right. “Kai.”

“Bonnie.”

She shifts until she's looming over him, one arm propping her up and the other on his chest. He tilts his head slightly to look up at her, not bothering to move her hair that's fallen into his face.

“I've never used the witch’s glass for phone sex before, but-”

Her hand grips the front of his shirt tightly and she kisses him before he can finish his sentence. He laughs into her mouth, and then rolls them over.

Bonnie spread her legs so he can settle between her thighs as he props himself up on his forearms. They stare at each other for a moment. Then, Bonnie leans up to kiss him. Her arms loop around his neck, fingers digging into the soft hair at his nape. Her lips part his, and her tongue swipes out, touching his teeth and gums. He tastes like copper and cinnamon. He kisses her back intently, tilting his head slightly to lick into her mouth.

Much too soon, he’s rolling away from her, landing in the grass with a muffled thump. Bonnie reaches up to touch her lips with the pads of her fingers. She turns her head, watching him peer up at the sky. The entire situation is fucked up, and she can't bring herself to care much. 

“Have fun on clean up duty,” he smirks.

She moves to slap his chest, but he’s already gone. Bonnie sighs and shifts, waiting for limbo to fade.

 

+++

Bonnie ends up on her bed in Mystic Falls. She digs into her pocket, removing Grams’s grimoire and the witch’s glass. Carefully, she takes the witch’s glass to her armoire, and opens the first drawer. Pushing past her bras and panties, she places it on top of the only photo of Abby in the house. In it, her mother stares grinning at the camera during a late fall sunset, unabashed and joyful.

Bonnie stares down at the objects for a moment, before pushing the drawer shut definitively.

She looks around her room until she spots her cell phone on top of her desk. Ignoring the many missed text messages and Snaps, she calls Elena. Going back to her bed, she holds the phone between her shoulder and ear. She waves a hand over Grams’s grimoire, making it go back to its normal size. As the phone rings, she flips through the book until she finds the spells that she’s looking for.

Elena picks up right before the call gets sent to voicemail.

“Bonnie?” her friend’s voice is high, panicked.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Bonnie says. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Kai and I got sucked into limbo-”

“Limbo?”

“I’ll explain later, but I’m in my house, safe,” she says. “Though... ”

Elena groans. “Kai got away, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck!”

Bonnie clears her throat. “How’s everything at the school?”

“Sheila and Lucy have barricaded all of the creatures off to one side and managed to get the gym doors open,” she says. “Caroline, Damon and Stefan got all of the humans outside and compelled them. Said they all had a great time at the dance, especially during the harmless, Halloween prank that a few seniors just pulled off.”

“My dad?” Bonnie asks. “Sheriff Forbes?”

“They’re fine,” Elena says. “They’re… herding humans to their cars and away from the gym. Damage control.”

Bonnie sighs. “Did Dad...”

“Seem frightened, royally angry, and like he was blaming us for everything that happened?” Elena asks. “Uhm...”

Guilt twists in Bonnie’s stomach. “That’s what I thought.”

“Bon, just talk to him. He has to know that you’re the one who saved-”

Bonnie cuts her off. “I have Grams’s grimoire, I just found the Creature Spell.”

The line is quiet for a moment. “Okay. Hold on, I’ll give Sheila the phone.”

A few minutes later, Grams’s voice comes on the line. “Bonnie?”

“Hi, Grams.”

“Bonnie Bennett-”

“I’m fine, I’m at home, thanks for asking,” Bonnie cuts her off. “Now. Should I read how to undo the Creature Spell to you before or after you yell at me?”

She hears Grams mutter out a curse. “Go ahead.”

 

+++

 

Half an hour later, Bonnie sits on her front porch. She’s showered and changed into jeans, sneakers and a thick, cable-knit sweater. Grams’s grimoire sits in her lap, and a bandage is wrapped around her hand. She hears Caroline’s raucous laughter before she sees her blonde friend rounding the corner with Elena, Lucy, Grams, Stefan and Damon. They all look a worse for wear, blood and grime smeared over their clothes and skin.

Bonnie stands up.

Elena turns her head away from Stefan, and catches Bonnie’s eye. She gasps and then breaks into a run. Caroline zooms forward as well; Bonnie has to brace her knees, preparing for impact as her two friends envelope her in a strong hug. Bonnie dips her head into Caroline’s neck, thinking maybe she should have waited before getting clean. But it's nice, having them hold her, crushing her to them like they're never going to let go. It feels like love and acceptance. Bonnie holds onto that, telling herself they'd still hug her this tightly if they knew all she's thought recently. 

“I have never been more happy to see you in my life,” Elena cries, speaking right into Bonnie’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Caroline asks, sniffing Bonnie hair. “Did Kai hurt you?”

“No,” Bonnie says.

“Okay, but you smell like you’ve been rolling around in-”

“I’m fine,” Bonnie says, pulling away.

She doesn’t say anything else and choses to ignore the look Caroline is giving her. Instead, she steps off of the stairs, pulling Lucy and Grams into a tight hug. Grams squeezes her back; Lucy pats her back gently, before disentangling herself from the group. Bonnie passes Grams’s her grimoire, pressing it into her open hands. She shoots a grateful smile to Damon and Stefan. Stefan smiles back; Damon winks, and pulls a flask out of his jacket. Caroline wrinkles her nose.

“Really, Damon? Do you exclusively drink blood with liquor, or what?” she asks.

Damon rolls his eyes. “Bite me, Blondie. It’s been a tough night. I was a human for a few days-”

Stefan looks upward, like he’s praying for patience. “Speaking of. We should probably get back to Halloweentown.”

“That’s right,” Grams nods, adjusting her grimoire in her arms. “We have to remove the Gray Spell.”

Lucy turns to Caroline and Elena. “Do you ladies want to come with us?”

Elena shakes her head. “I actually just want to sleep. And shower. Not in that order.”

“There’s not much we can do there now, anyway,” Caroline says. “Opening the portal was so cool, but I think that’s the extent of my magical powers.”

Lucy nods. “Fair enough.”

Elena asks, “Bon? Do you want us to sleepover?”

Bonnie nods. “See you when I get back.”

 

+++

 

The portal opens on Main Street. It’s slightly busy. Gray creatures pass by them slowly, mumbling to themselves about the weather and the price of oatmeal. Damon make a face as a woman in a khaki dress passes him, and mutters that even their blood smells drab. Bonnie glances at her cousin, who’s staring towards the middle of the plaza, a frown on her lips.

“As goes the jack-o-lantern, so goes Halloweentown,” Lucy mutters, shaking her head.

Grams opens her grimoire to the Gray Spell, holding it with one hand in front of her. Bonnie peeks over her shoulder, looking at the spell requirements. Even though she knows everything that they need already, it’s comforting, somehow, to see it all written out neatly.

_The Gray Spell: A powerful spell used to turn immortal creatures into humans and back again. Used in the Dark Times as punishment for those who would break the most important rule in Code of Merlin; sacrificing another creature’s life to strengthen one’s power or dominion, much the way humans have done to their kin. Incantation: Apart (or Trapa). Requirements: Essence of a witch, ash of a righteous fire, an enchanted amulet, a seven-pointed star._

Grams turns to Bonnie, speller’s chalk in her fingers. “Bonnie?”

“Hmm?”

“Will you do the honors?”

Bonnie takes the chalk, smiling at her grandmother. She walks over to the large gray block, and begins drawing an heptagram around it. As she works, she listens to the noises around her. Lucy is tasked with gathering sweat and blood; Stefan volunteers his daylight ring, and speeds over to stand underneath the movie theater awning, away from the sun. Grams makes Damon hold the grimoire as she focuses on burning down one of the trees, a tiny, wrought-iron fence around it with a sign that says _please curb your dog_.

“Humans,” Grams mutters as she works.

Once they are all finished, the three Bennetts get into position around the gray cube. Even though Bonnie can’t see or touch Grams and Lucy - they’re all standing too far apart - she can feel their magic reaching out to hers, like magnets attracting one another. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, calling for the energy rolling around inside of her to come to the surface. It’s hot and sharp, like using a heated knife to cauterize a wound.

The spell slips from her lips, in unison with Grams and Lucy. “Trapa!”

 _Pop!_ Rings in Bonnie’s ear, and she stumbles backwards. She loses the connection to Grams and Lucy as she tries to steady herself on her feet. But she laughs, recklessly and joyful, and the world transforms and bursts into color around her. The face of the jack-o-lantern grins toothily at her; the sun shines bright on the back of her neck. She turns to hear confused shouts, excited shrieks, and wondrous cheers.  

“Great job, witches,” Damon calls, scowling from under the theater awning. “Can I get my ring back now?”

 

+++

 

Bonnie stands at the threshold of the portal, looking at her grandmother and her cousin. She ignores the anxious feeling in her stomach. She doesn’t want to investigate it too closely, for now. But as she looks into her Grams’s eyes, she wonders how much the two older women deliberately kept from her.

It’s on the top of Bonnie tongue to ask about Abby -

_Did you stand up for Mom when she fought to get her magic back?_

_Why didn’t you ever tell me about the sacrifices she made for me?_

_Do you know where she is now?_

_Is she a vampire?_

_Is she happy?_

\- But she bites down, drawing a small amount of blood. It pools in her mouth and Bonnie swallows it down before smiling. Because if she’s being honest with herself, she’s tired, now. All she wants to do is be with her best friends and celebrate; if she knows her grandmother, that will be all she will be able to do now, too. Besides, she needs some time to figure out her own feelings about everything she's learned. 

“I guess this means you’re staying here,” Bonnie says.

Grams nods. “Mystic Falls is no place for me. And for now… it seems that the portal will remain open. So you can come and visit me all the time for your training.”

Bonnie can’t resist. “And I won’t have to chose between my two worlds. None of us will.”

Grams levels a look at her. “There may come a time when you have to choose, dear. We don’t know what the Originals, or any other of the Halloweentown citizens, will want.”

“I’ll just worry about that when it comes.”

“Bonnie, it is extremely difficult to be a witch in the mortal world-”

“But it’s not impossible.” Lucy cuts Grams off. “Besides, you don’t have to make the choice alone, if it comes down to that.”

Grams smiles. “That’s right. You have us, and of course, your friends.”

Bonnie smiles back. “Well. Speaking of, I’d better get back to them.”

“Of course,” Grams says. “And Bonnie, about Kai...”

Bonnie’s heart skips. “Yeah?”

“He’ll be back, I’m sure of it,” Grams says. “But we’ll be waiting.”

Lucy nods. “Together.”

Bonnie thinks of the witch’s glass, tucked away in her dresser. “Of course.”

She gives them both a hug, and then walks into the portal.

 

+++

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Please leave a review so I know what all you spoopy babes think! :) Happy Halloween!


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